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PUBLICATION 


OF 

FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL 

HISrOR^' 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SERIES 
VoL.  X. 


Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 
1912 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History. 
Publication  154. 

Anthropological  Series.  Vol.  X. 


JADE 

A STUDY  IN  CHINESE  AKCH.TOEOGY  AND  RELIGION 


BY 

Bertiiold  Laufer 


68  Plates,  6 of  which  are  colored,  and  204  Text-figures 


The  Mrs.  T.  B.  Blackstone  Expedition 


Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 
February,  1912. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/jadestudyinchineOOIauf 


PREFACE 


At  the  close  of  the  year  1907  the  Field  Museum  honored  me  with 
the  task  of  carrying  on  research  and  making  collections  in  Tibet  and 
China  for  a period  of  three  years,  extending  from  1908  to  1910,  under 
an  endowTnent  liberally  pro\dded  by  Mrs.  T.  B.  Blackstone  of  this 
city.  The  results  of  the  expedition,  accordingly,  cover  two  distinct 
fields  — an  ethnological  collection  bearing  on  Tibet  and  neighboring 
regions,  inclusive  of  an  abundance  of  material  relative  to  Lamaism 
(paintings,  images,  masks,  objects  of  the  cult),  and  an  extensive  collec- 
tion illustrating  the  archaeology  of  China.  The  latter  has  been  planned 
in  such  a way  as  to  afford  an  insight  into  the  development  of  all  phases 
of  life  in  China’s  past.  In  conformity  wdth  the  tendency  of  this  Insti- 
tution, this  group  of  collections  is  not  by  any  means  intended  to  illustrate 
the  development  of  art  but  of  culture  in  China.  The  results  of  the 
work  in  Tibet  are  designed  to  be  brought  out  in  six  volumes.  It  has 
been  proposed  to  work  up  the  Chinese  material  in  a series  of  monographs, 
the  first  instalment  of  which  is  the  present  publication.  The  mortuary- 
clay  figjures,  the  bronze  and  iron  age  of  China,  Buddhist  stone  sculpture, 
are  the  subjects  contemplated  for  the  next  issues. 

This  volume  does  not  pretend  to  be  a contribution  to  sinologv. 
Its  general  scope  is  explained  in  the  Introduction.  Written,  in  the 
first  place,  to  furnish  the  necessary  information  on  the  jade  collection 
in  the  Field  Museum,  it  applies  to  students  of  archaeology  and  religion 
in  that  it  furnishes  a great  deal  of  new  material  and  research  on  the 
early  development  of  religious  and  artistic  thought  in  ancient  China. 
All  specimens,  with  the  exception  of  the  jade  and  stone  implements 
on  Plates  IX-XIII,  and  of  the  jade  book  on  Plate  XIV,  are  in  the 
Field  Museum  and  form  part  of  the  Mrs.  T.  B.  Blackstone  collection. 

The  lack  of  Chinese  types  is  met  by  two  expediencies.  In  all 
illustrations  derived  from  Chinese  books,  the  Chinese  titles  accompany- 
ing them  have  been  reproduced  in  facsimile,  so  that  the  Chinese  designa- 
tions for  the  various  types  of  jade  wdll  be  easily  recognized.  Wherever 
necessary,  in  using  Chinese  words  romanized,  references  are  made  in 
parenthesis  to  the  number  of  the  particular  character  in  Giles’s  Chinese- 
English  Dictionary,  which  is  on  the  desk  of  every  student  in  this  field. 
The  second  revised  and  enlarged  edition,  as  far  as  it  has  appeared 
(four  fascicules),  is  quoted  throughout;  for  the  remainder  the  first 
edition  is  referred  to.  Professor  Giles  deserves  hearty  congratulation 


I 


11 


Preface. 


on  the  completion  of  this  monumental  work,  which  is  marked  by 
progress  and  new  results  on  every  page,  and  for  which  every  student  of 
Chinese  is  largely  indebted  to  him.  As  our  archaeological  research 
advances,  the  necessity  of  a special  archaeological  dictionary  will  be 
more  and  more  felt. 

The  generosity  of  Mrs.  T.  B.  Blackstone  in  contributing  a fund 
toward  the  printing  of  this  volume  is  gratefully  acknowledged. 

I have  to  thank  Dr.  O.  C.  Farrington,  Curator  of  Geology,  for  the 
mineralogical  definitions  of  many  specimens,  and  Mr.  H.  W.  Nichols, 
Assistant  Curator  of  Geology,  for  manifold  advice  on  technical  ques- 
tions. 

The  manuscript  was  completed  in  October,  1911. 

Berthold  Laufer, 
Associate  Curator  of  Asiatic  Ethnology. 


Chicago,  February,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


List  of  Illustrations y 

Introduction j 

I.  Jade  and  Other  Stone  Implements 29 

II.  Jade  Symbols  of  Sovereign  Power 80 

III.  Astronomical  Instruments  of  Jade 104 

IV.  Jade  as  Writing-Material 114 

V.  Jade  in  Religious  Worship  — The  Jade  Images  of 

THE  Cosmic  Deities 120 

1.  Jade  Images  and  SvTnbols  of  the  Deity  Earth  . . 122 

2.  Jade  Images  and  S\nnbols  of  the  Deity  Heaven  154 

3.  Jade  Images  of  the  North,  East  and  South  . . 169 

4.  Jade  Images  of  the  Deity  of  the  West  ....  174 

5.  Jade  Images  of  the  Dragon 186 

VI.  Jade  Coins  and  Seals 190 

VII.  Personal  Ornaments  of  Jade 194 

1.  The  Girdle-Pendant 194 

2.  The  Development  of  the  Girdle-Pendants  . 217 

3.  Ornaments  for  Headgear  and  Hair 249 

4.  Jade  Clasps 256 

5.  Jade  Buckles 262 

6.  Sword  Ornaments  of  Jade 274 

7.  The  Jade  Court-Girdles  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty  . 286 

VIII.  Jade  Amulets  of  the  Dead 294 

IX.  Jade  Objects  used  in  Dressing  the  Corpse  306 

X.  Jade  Carvings  of  Fishes,  Quadrupeds  .and  Hum.an 

Figures  in  the  Grave 309 

XI.  Vases  of  Jade 315 

XII.  Jade  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  324 

Appendix  I.  Jade  in  Buddhist  Art 341 

Appendix  II.  The  Nephrite  Question  of  Japan  . 351 

Bibliography 333 

Index 361 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TEXT-FIGURES  ‘ 


I.  Ancient  Jade  Axe  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

2-3.  Jade  Dance-Axes  (from  Ku  yii  t’u  p'u)  42 

4.  Hatchet  of  Yellow  Red-Spotted  Jade 4^ 

5-6.  Ancient  Bronze  Hatchets  (from  Kin-shik  so) 44 

7.  Perforated  Stone  Chisel  from  Shantung  (after  Sketch  furnished  by 

Mr.  Couling) 

8.  Three  Stone  Arrow-Heads  (from  Kin-shih  so)  61 

9.  Stone  Implements  (from  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu) 65 

10.  Stone  Hatchets  in  an  Ornamental  Composition  (from  Fang-shih 

mo  p'u)  67 

11.  Spade-Shaped  Bronze  Coin  (from  Specimen  in  Field  Museum,  Cat- 

alogue No.  1 16958) 74 

12-13.  Bronze  Hatchets  of  Han  Period  (from  Specimens  in  American 

Museum,  New  York) 74^  75 

14.  Spade-Shaped  Celts  (after  Grunwedel)  76 

15-17.  Reconstructions  of  the  Jade  Tablets  huan  kuei  (15),  sin  kuei  (16), 

and  kung  kuei  (17)  (from  the  Palace  Edition  of  the  Li  ki)  . . 85 

18.  Jade  Disk  with  “Grain”  Pattern  according  to  the  Notions  of  the 

Sung  Period  (from  the  Palace  Edition  of  the  Li  ki)  ....  86 

19.  Jade  Disk  with  “Rush”  Pattern  according  to  the  Notions  of  the 

Sung  Period  (from  Same  Source) 86 

20-22.  Jade  Hammer-Shaped  Symbols  of  Imperial  Power,  chen  kuei  . .87,  90 

23-24.  Jade  Hammer  and  Knife-Shaped  Symbols  of  Imperial  Power,  chhi 

kuei  and  ta  kuei q2 

25-27.  Round  Jade  Tablets,  yiian  kuei 93 

28.  Jade  Tablet,  ts'ing  kuei 95 

29.  Pointed  Jade  Tablet,  yen  kuei 95 

30.  Jade  Tablet  with  “Grain”  Pattern,  ku  kuei,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces  96 

31.  Jade  Tablet  on  a Han  Bas-Relief  (from  A'fn-i/if/i  50)  ...  97 

32-33.  Jade  Tablets,  kuei 98 

34.  Jade  Tablet,  chang .101 

35.  Jade  Tablet,  ya  chang 102 

36.  Jade  Astronomical  Instrument,  suan-ki 105 

37.  Lower  Face  of  Astronomical  Instrument  in  Fig.  36 107 

38.  Jade  of  the  Tribes  I {1  yii) 108 

39.  The  Ring  pi-liu-li  {Irom  Kin-shih  so) no 

40.  Imperial  Jade  Tablet  hu  for  writing 116 

41-46.  Alleged  Jade  Wheel-Nav'cs  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  123,  126-128 

47.  Green  Jade  Tube,  ta  ts'ung 130 

48.  Black  Jade  Tube,  ta  ts'ung 131 

49-50.  Jade  Tubes,  huang  ts'ung  ....  132 

• Chinese  drawings  with  no  indication  of  source  .are  derived  from  the  book  of  Wu  Ta-ch'ing  (see 
Introduction,  p.  I2). 


VI 


List  of  Illustrations. 


Page 

51-56.  Yellow  Jade  Tubes,  huang  Is'ung 13.3-135 

57.  Yellow  Jade  Ring,  huang  Is'ung 136 

58-59.  Tubes,  tsu  is'ung,  of  White  Jade  with  Black  Veins 137 

60.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  White  Jade  with  Manicolored  Spots  138 

61.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  Yellow  Jade  with  White  V'^eins 139 

62.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  White  Jade  with  Green  and  Red  Spots  . 140 

63.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  Drab-colored  Jade  with  a Zone  of  Clayish 

Matter 140 

64.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung.  Green  Jade  with  Russet  Spots  and  "a  Zone  per- 

meated by  Mercury” 141 

65.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  Green  Jade  with  Zone  of  Clayish  Matter  141 

66.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  Yellow  Jade,  "Permeated  by  Mercury”  142 

67.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  Green  Jade  with  Black  Zone  interspersed  with 

White  Specks 142 

68.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  Yellow  Jade  w'ith  Russet  Spots 143 

69.  Tube,  tsu  is'ung,  of  White  Jade  with  Russet  Spots 143 

70.  Jade  Image  of  Earth  in  the  Temple  of  Earth,  Peking  (from  Huang 

ch'ao  li  k'i  t'u  shih) 151 

71.  Jade  Disk  with  “Grain”  Pattern,  ku  pi 158 

72.  Jade  Disk  with  Basketry  Design,  p'u  pi 159 

73.  Jade  Disk,  pi.  Upper  and  Lower  Faces 160,  161 

74.  Jade  Disk,  pi,  decorated  with  Dragon  and  Bird  Heads  ....  162 

75.  Jade  Disk,  ku  pi,  with  Band-Ornaments 163 

76.  Jade  Image  huang  of  the  North 170 

77.  Jade  Image  huang  of  the  North 170 

78.  Jade  huang  in  the  Shape  of  a Fish 170 

79.  Jade  of  the  Type  huang  171 

80.  Jade  of  the  Type  huang  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  171 

81.  Jade  Tablet,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  with  Design  of  Tiger,  used  in 

the  Worship  of  the  West 176 

82.  Jade  Carving  of  Tiger’s  Head,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces  . . 177 

83.  Jade  Carving  of  Tiger 178 

84.  Jade  Carving  of  Tiger,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  buried  to  the  West 

of  the  Corpse 179 

85.  Jade  Carving  of  Tiger,  Reconstruction  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  180 

86-87.  Bronze  Sonorous  Instruments  of  the  Chou  Period  (from  Po  ku  t'u, 

edition  of  1603) 180 

88.  Bronze  Sonorous  Instrument  of  the  Chou  Period,  in  Shape  of  Tiger 

(from  Po  ku  t'u,  edition  of  1603) 181 

89.  Bronze  Sonorous  Instrument  of  the  Chou  Period  (from  Same  Source)  181 

90.  Jade  Carving  of  Tapir  (alleged  Tiger,  from  K'ao  ku  t'u)  ....  181 

91.  Jade  Carving  of  Dragon  used  in  Prayers  for  Rain 186 

92.  Jade  Carving  of  Dragon 187 

93.  Jade  Carving  of  Dragon 188 

94.  Ancient  Metal  Coin  with  Round  Perforation  (from  Kin  ting  ts'ien 

lu) 192 

95.  Complete  View  of  the  Ancient  Jade  Girdle- Pendant  (from  Ku  yii  t'u 

p'u)  198 

96-99.  Jade  Head- Pieces  of  Girdle-Pendants 200 

100- loi.  Jade  Lower  Side- Pieces  of  Girdle  Pendant  202 


List  of  Illustrations. 


VII 


102. 

103. 

104. 
105-106. 
107-108. 

109. 

1 10. 

1 1 1. 
112. 
II3- 
114. 

II5- 

1 16. 

117. 
1 18-1 19. 
120-121. 

122. 

123. 

124. 
125- 

126. 

127. 

128. 

129. 

130. 

131- 

132. 

133- 

134- 

135- 
136. 

137- 

138. 

139- 

140-141. 

142. 

143- 

144- 

145- 


Jade  Head-Piece  of  Girdle-Pendant  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Head-Piece  of  Girdle-Pendant  in  Shape  of  Lotus-Leaf  (from 

Same  Source) 

Jade  Chatelaine  from  Turkistan  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Central  Pieces  of  Girdle-Pendant  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Central  Side-Pieces  of  Girdle-Pendant  (from  Same  Source) 
Lower  Central  Piece  of  Girdle-Pendant  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  with  Cloud-Band  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  in  Shape  of  Cloud-Band  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  in  Shape  of  Coiled  Clouds  (from  Same  Source) 
Jade  Girdle-Ring  with  Design  of  Phenix  (from  Same  Source)  . . 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  with  Design  of  Auspicious  Plants  (from  Same 

Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  with  Coiled  Hydra  (from  Same  Source)  . 

Jade  Girdle- Ring  in  Shape  of  Cloud- Band  (from  Same  Souree) 
Incomplete  Jade  Ring,  kiieh,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces  .... 
Jade  Girdle-Pendants,  Pairs  of  Fishes  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendants,  Pairs  of  Phenixes  or  Peacocks  (from  Same 

Source)  

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Two  Hydras,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces  (from 

Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  "The  Fragrant  Herb"  (from  Same  Source)  . 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Butterfly  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Coiled  Dragon  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Twisted  Band  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Coiled  Hydra  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Coiled  Hydra  with  Rodent  (from  Same 

Source)  

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Hydra  and  Bird-Head  (from  Same  Source)  . 
Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Hatchet  Design  (from  Same  Source)  . 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Cicada,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces  (from  Same 

Source)  

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Cloud-Dragon  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Single  Fish  (from  Same  Source)  .... 
Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Winding  Dragon  (from  Same  Source)  . 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Tiger  (from  Same  Souree)  .... 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  Single  Hydra  (from 

Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Coiled  Hydra  (from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Upp>er  and  Lower  Faces,  Couple  of  Hydras 

(from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  Playing  Hydras 

(from  Same  Source) 

Jade  Girdle-Pendants,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  Playing  Hydras 

(from  Same  Source) 

Dragon-Shaped  Girdle-Pendant  of  White  Jade  with  Russet  Spots 
Hydra-Shaped  Girdle-Pendant  of  Green  Jade  with  Russet  Spots 
Dragon-Shaped  Girdle-Pendant  of  White  Jade  with  Yellow  Mist 
Girdle-Pendant  with  Designs  of  Aquatic  Plants,  of  White  Jade 
with  Russet  Spots 


Page 

203 

203 

204 

205 

207 

208 
212 
212 
213 

213 

214 

214 

215 

216 
218 

221 

223 

223 

223 

224 
224 
224 

224 

225 

225 

226 
226 
226 
228 

228 

229 

229 

230 

230 

231 

236 

236 

237 

238 


VIll 


List  of  Illustrations. 


Rage 

146.  Green  Jade  Ornament  with  Design  of  Bird  and  Dragon  . . . 239 

147.  Girdle-Ornament,  with  Cloud-Pattern,  of  White  Jade  with  Black 

Stripes 240  , 

148.  Large  Jade  Implement  to  loosen  Knots 241 

149.  Small  Jade  Implement  to  loosen  Knots 241 

150.  Jade  Implement  to  loosen  Knots  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  ....  242 

151.  !‘Jade  Horse”  on  a Han  Bas-Relief  (from  Kin-shih  so)  ...  . 244 

152.  Jade  Carving  of  Recumbent  Horse  of  the  T'ang  Period  (from  Ku 

yu  t'u) 245 

153.  Jade  Carving  of  Standing  Horse.  Feet  were  restored  and  Figure  of 

Man  was  added  in  the  Yuan  Period  (from  Ku  yii  t'u)  . . 246 

154-155.  Jade  Buttons,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces  . . . ., 250 

156.  Jade  Hat-Pin  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  251 

157.  Cap  showing  Wear  of  Jade  Pin,  after  Sketch  by  the  Painter  Li  Kung- 

lin  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 251 

158.  Jade  Bonnet-Pendants  worn  by  the  Empress 252 

159.  Earring  of  White  Jade,  Upper  and  Lower  Sides 253 

160.  Jade  Earrings 254 

161.  Jade  Girdle-Clasp,  Front  and  Back  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  . . . 257 

162.  Jade  Girdle-Clasp,  suei,  White  Jade  with  Red  Spots  all  over  and 

a Zone  of  inserted  Clayish  Matter  258 

163-165.  Girdle-Clasps  of  White  Jade  (with  Addition  of  Light-Red  Tinge 

in  165) 258,  259,  260 

166.  Buckle  of  White  Jade  with  Yellow  Mist,  Back  and  Front  263 

167.  White  Jade  Buckle,  Side  and  Front 263 

168.  Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  the  Motive  “ Mantis  catching  the  Cicada  ” 

(from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  264 

169.  The  Praying-Mantis  t'ang-lang  (from  San  ts'ai  t'u  hut.  Edition  of 

1607) 266 

170.  Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  Antelope  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  268 

1 71.  Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  (from  Same  Source)  . 269 

172.  Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  the  Animal  t'  ien-lu  (from  Same 

Source)  269 

173.  Ancient  Jade  Buckle,  with  Dragon-Head  in  the  Style  of  the  Painter 

Chang  S6ng-yu  of  the  Sixth  Century  (from  Same  Source)  . 270 

174.  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  Dragon,  Mediaeval  (from  Same  Source)  271 

175.  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  Phenix,  Mediaeval  (from  Same  Source)  . 272 

176.  Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Horse-Head  and  Hydra  (from  Same 

Source)  272 

177.  Sword-Guard  of  Red  Jade  with  Clayish  Substances 275 

178.  Sword-Guard  of  White  Jade  275 

179-180.  Sword  Guards  of  White  Jade  with  Russet  Dots 277 

181.  Sword-Guard  of  Green  Jade  with  Black  Stripes  and  Russet  Dots  in 

them 278 

182-183.  Jade  Ornaments,  peng,  for  the  Mouth  of  Scabbards,  White  Jade 

(182)  and  Green  Jade  with  Clayish  Substances  (183)  . . . 279 

184.  Jade  Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard,  White  Jade  inter- 

spersed with  Russet  Dots 280 

185.  Jade  Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard,  White  Jade  inter- 

spersed with  Russet  Specks 281 


List  of  Illustrations. 


1 86.  WhUe  Jade  Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard 

187.  White  Jade  Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard 

188.  Jade  Ornaments  for  Scabbard  (from  K'ao  ku  t'u) 

189.  King  Wu  of  Ch'u,  after  Painting  by  Ku  K'ai-chih  (from  K'ao  ku 

Vu) 

190.  White  Jade  Court-Girdle  with  Dragon-Designs  of  the  T'ang  Period 

(from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

191.  Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  Emperors  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty  (from 

Ku  yii  t'u  p'u)  

192.  Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  Officials  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  ornamented 

with  Bats  and  Clouds  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

193-  Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  Empress  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  with  Per- 

sian Floral  Designs  (from  Ku  yu  t'u  p'u) 

194-  Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  sent  as  tribute  from 

Khotan  (from  Ku  yu  t'u  p'u) 

195-  Central  Plaques  from  Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  with 

Mountain  Scenery  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

196.  Lower  Face  of  Tongue-Amulet  shown  in  Plate  XXXVT,  Fig.  2 
197-  Ancient  Jade  Carving  of  the  Monster  p'i-sieh,  used  as  Paper- 
Weight  by  the  Painter  Chao  Meng-fu  (from  Ku  yii  t'u) 

198.  Jade  Cup  of  the  Chou  Period 

*99-  Jade  Vase  of  the  Chou  Period 

200.  Ancient  Jade  Bowl,  dug  up  in  F^ng-siang  fu 

201.  “Brushing  the  Elephant  of  Samantabhadra,”  in  the  Style  of  the 

Painter  Yen  Li-pSn.  Jade  Carvung  of  the  Period  907-911  a.  d. 
(from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

202.  Brushing  the  Elephant"  (W’oodcut  from  Fang-shih  mo  p'u) 

203.  Ancient  Jade  Carving  representing  the  Bodhisatva  Samantabhadra 

(from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u) 

204.  Picture  of  Samantabhadra  by  Sesshu  (from  Japanese  Wood- 

Engraving)  


Page 

282 

283 

284 

285 

287 

288 

289 

290 

291 

293 

300 

313 

316 

317 
317 


342 

340 

347 

349 


PLATES 


I. 


ir. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 
VI. 


Nephrite  Bowlders  

Fig.  I.  W^ater-rolled  Pebble  of  Jade  of  the  Han  Period. 
Cat.  No.  116497. 

Fig.  2.  Bowlder  from  Khotan,  Turkistan.  Cat.  No.  116498. 
Jade  Chisels  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province.  Cat.  Nos 
116499,  116502,  116500  

Jade  Hammer  of  Chou  Period  from  Shensi  Province.  Cat.  No 
1 1651 1 

Jade  Chisel  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province.  Cat.  No 


Opp.  Page 
26 


35 


36 


116503  

Jade  Chisels  of  Chou  Period  from  Shensi  Province.  Cat.  Nos 

116504, 116506,  116509  

Jade  Chisels  and  other  Implements  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shens 
Province.  Cat.  Nos.  116505,  116501,  116514,  1165  7 . . . 


38 


X 


List  of  Illustrations. 


Opp.  Page 


VII.  Jade  and  Bronze  Chisels  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province  . 38 

Fig.  I.  Jade  Chisel,  a Front,  h Side-view.  Cat.  No.  118001. 

Fig.  2.  Bronze  Chisel  for  Comparison  with  Stone  Type.  Cat. 

No.  1 16723. 

VIII.  Jade  Chisel  and  Knife  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province. 

Cat.  Nos.  116510,  116508 39 

IX.  Jade  Dagger,  probably  Shang  Period,  from  Shensi  Province,  in 

the  Possession  of  H.  E.  Tuan  Fang,  Peking 40 

X.  Stone  Chisels  from  Shantung  Province,  in  Royal  Scottish  Mu- 
seum, Edinburgh 47 

XI.  Stone  Hammers  from  Shantung  Province,  in  Royal  Scottish 

Museum,  Edinburgh 48 

XII.  Stone  Pestles  from  Shantung  Province,  in  Royal  Scottish  Mu- 
seum, Edinburgh 49 

XIII.  Grooved  Stone  Axes 50 

Fig.  1.  Grooved  Diorite  Axe  from  Shantung  Province,  in 
British  Museum,  London. 

Fig.  2.  Grooved  Quartz  Axe  from  India,  in  British  Museum, 
London.  After  Rivett-Carnac. 


Fig.  3.  Grooved  Stone  Hammer  from  Saghalin.  After 
lijima. 

Fig.  4.  Grooved  Stone  Hammer  of  the  Chukchi.  After 
Bogoras 

XIV.  Manchu  and  Chinese  Document  of  the  Emperor  Shun-chih 


carved  in  Jade  Slabs  in  1648 118 

XV.  Jade  Images  and  Symbols  of  the  Deity  Earth 122 


Figs.  1-3.  Jade  Images  of  Earth.  Cat.  Nos.  116512,  116513, 
116569. 

Figs.  4-5.  Marble  Symbols  serving  in  the  Sacrifices  to  Earth. 
Cat.  Nos.  116590,  116589. 

XVI.  Bronze  Fittings  of  Chariot  Wheel-Naves,  • Cat.  Nos.  116894, 


116896 127 

XVII.  Reconstructions  in  Plaster  of  Sacrificial  Emblems 144 


Fig.  1.  Emblem  serving  in  Sacrifices  to  Heaven.  Cat.  No. 
117942. 

Fig.  2.  Emblem  in  Sacrifices  to  Sun,  Moon,  Planets  and 
Constellations.  Cat.  No.  117943. 

Fig.  3.  Emblem  in  Sacrifices  to  the  Mountains  and  Rivers. 
Cat.  No.  117944. 

XVIII.  Han  Pottery  Quadrangular  Jar,  with  Inscription  “Grain  Vessel 


(kulou),"  its  Shape  imitating  the  Image  of  Earth.  Cat. No.  1 18383  152 

XIX.  Sung  Glazed  Pottery  Vlases  shaped  into  the  Image  of  Earth. 

Cat.  Nos.  118377,  118378 152 

XX.  Sung  Glazed  Pottery  Vases  shaped  into  the  Image  of  Earth. 

Cat.  Nos.  118381,  118382 153 

XXL  (Colored.)  Jade  Disk  representing  Image  of  the  Deity  Heaven. 

Cat.  No.  116575 '• 156 

XXII.  (Colored.)  Jade  Disks  Symbolic  of  the  Deity  Heaven.  Cat.  Nos. 

116577,  116578  157 


List  of  Illustrations. 


XXIII.  Decorated  Jade  Disks  of  the  Type  pi 

Fig.  I.  Badge  of  Rank  with  Two  Hydras  in  Relief  Cat 
No.  U6583. 

Fig.  2.  Badge  of  Rank  with  "Grain”  Pattern.  Cat.  No. 
116580. 

Fig.  3.  Jade  Disk  with  Two  Hydras  and  Spiral  Decorations. 
Cat.  No.  116581, 


XXIV. 


XXV. 


XXVI. 

XXVII. 


XXVIII. 


XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 


Fig-  4-  Jade  Disk  with  Engraved  Hatchet  Design  on  Both 
Faces.  Cat.  No.  116582. 

Fig.  5.  Flat  Jade  Disk  with  Engraved  Meander  Ornaments. 
Cat.  No.  116579. 

Fig.  6.  Jade  kuei  pi  used  in  Sacrificing  to  the  Sun,  Moon  and 
Stars.  Cat.  No.  116591. 

Fig.  7.  Fragment  of  Jade  Disk.  Cat  No.  116586. 

Jade  Disk  pi  (Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  a and  h).  Cat.  No. 

116584.  . , 

Jade  Rings 

Figs.  I,  2,  4,  5.  Jade  Rings  of  the  Type  yuan.  Cat.  .Nos. 

116572,  116573,  116571.  116576. 

Fig.  3.  Fragment  of  Jade  Disk.  Cat.  No.  1 16585. 

Fig.  6.  Unique  Jadeite  Ring  with  Projecting  Ridge.  Cat. 
No.  1 16587. 

Fig.  7.  Ring  of  Red  Agate.  Cat.  No.  1 16588. 

Jade  Ring  of  the  Type  huan.  Cat.  No.  1 16574 

Coins  and  Seals  

Fig.  I.  Jade  Knife-Coin  of  Wang  Mang.  Cat.  No.  116609. 
Figs.  2,  3.  Copper  Knife-Coins  of  Wang  Miyig.  Cat.  Nos. 
116610,  1 16611. 

Figs-  4.  5-  Jade  Seals.  Cat.  Nos.  116608,  116607. 

Jade  Ornaments  of  the  Han  Period 

Fig.  1.  Lower  Side-Piece  of  a Girdle- Pendant.  Cat.  No. 
116546. 

Fig.  2.  Half-Ring  kiieh.  Cat.  No.  116556. 

Figs.  3,  4.  Axe-Shaped  Girdle-Ornaments.  Cat.  Nos.  116606, 

1 16605. 

Fig.  5.  Girdle-Ornament  in  Shape  of  Fungus  of  Immortality. 
Cat.  No.  116558. 

Fig.  6.  Ornament  for  Scabbard.  Cat.  No.  1 16568. 

Fig.  7.  Archer’s  Thumb-Ring.  Cat.  No.  116570. 

(Colored.)  Jade  Girdle-Ornaments  of  Women,  Han  Period.  Cat. 

Nos.  116555,  116552,  116553,  116554 

Designs  on  the  Lower  Faces  of  the  Girdle-Ornaments  in  Figs.  1, 

3 and  4 of  Preceding  Plate 

Jade  Girdle-Pendants 

Fig.  1.  Carving  of  Reclining  Horse  and  Monkey.  Cat.  No. 
116594. 

Fig.  2.  Carving  of  Elephant.  Cat.  No.  116597. 

Fig.  3.  Carving  of  Recumbent  Cow  with  Calf.  Cat.  No. 

116594- 


165 

166 


167 

190 


202 


233 

233 

241 


Xll 


List  of  Illustrations. 


XXXII. 


XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 


XXXV. 


XXXVI. 


XXXVII. 


XXXVIII. 


XXXIX. 


0pp.  Page 

Fig.  4.  Carving  of  Two  Goats.  Cat.  Xo.  116595. 

Fig.  5.  Carving  of  Drake  and  Duck  surrounded  by  Lotus- 
Flowers.  Cat.  No.  116602. 

Fig.  6.  Carving  of  Two  Mandarin- Ducks.  Cat.  No.  116599. 

Fig.  7.  Carving  of  Dragon.  Cat.  No.  116642. 

Fig.  8.  Pendant  with  Car\'ing  of  Hydra.  Cat.  No.  116644. 

Carvings  of  Animals 243 

Fig.  I.  Carving  of  Recumbent  Mare  and  Foal,  of  White 
Jade.  Cat.  No.  116598. 

Fig.  2.  Carving  of  Lion,  of  White  Jade.  Cat.  No.  116603.  ' 

Fig.  3.  Carving  of  Crouching  Tiger,  of  Rock-Crystal.  Cat. 

No.  116654. 

(Colored.)  Jade  Clasps  of  the  Han  Period.  Cat.  Nos.  1 16559, 


116563,  116562,  116560,  116564,  116561 259 

Buckles  of  the  Han  Period 262 


Fig.  I.  Jade  Buckle  with  Horse-Head.  Cat.  No.  116566. 

Fig.  2.  Jade  Buckle  with  Dragon-Head.  Cat.  No.  116565. 

Fig.  3.  Bronze  Buckle  incrusted  with  Silver  Wire.  Cat.  No. 

1 16851. 

Sword-Guards  of  the  Han  Period 274 

Fig.  I.  Jade  Sword-Guard  (a  Front,  b Back,  c Lower  Side). 

Cat.  No.  116515. 

Fig.  2.  Bronze  Sword-Guard.  Cat.  No.  116806. 

Tongue-Amulets  for  the  Dead 299 

Figs.  1-4.  Plain  Types.  Cat.  Nos.  116517,  116516,  116518, 
116535. 

Fig.  5.  Tongue-Amulet  carved  in  Shape  of  Realistic  Cicada 
(a  Upper  and  b Lower  Face).  Cat.  No.  116531. 

Figs.  6-9.  Tongue-Amulets  showing  conventionalized  Forms 
of  Cicada.  Cat.  Nos.  116530,  116532,  116519,  116533. 

Jade  Amulets  for  the  Dead 301 

Figs.  1-3.  Tooth-Shaped  Tongue-Amulets.  Cat.  Nos.  116527, 
116526,  116525. 

Figs.  4-5.  Miniature  Tongue-Amulets  for  Women  and  ChiK 
dren.  Cat.  Nos.  116529,  116528. 

Figs.  6-8.  Navel- Amulets.  Cat.  Nos.  1 16545,  1 16547,  1 16548. 

Figs.  9-11.  Prism-Shaped  Amulets.  Cat.  Nos.  116551,  116550, 
116549. 

Jade  Amulets  for  the  Dead 303 

Fig.  I.  a and  b.  Pair  of  Eye-Protecting  Amulets.  Cat.  No. 
116534. 

Fig.  2.  Presumably  Eye- Amulet.  Cat.  No.  116548. 

Fig.  3.  Eye-Amulet  with  Design  of  Fish.  Cat.  No.  116536. 

Figs.  4-7.  Lip-Amulets,  4 and  7 in  Shape  of  Fish.  Cat.  Nos. 

116539,  116542,  116541,  116544. 

Figs.  8-9.  Amulets  in  the  Shape  of  Monsters.  Cat.  Nos. 
116543,116557. 

Clay  Disks  of  Han  Period,  used  in  Dressing  the  Corpse.  Cat. 

Nos.  118384,  118385 306 


List  of  Illustrations. 


.\m 


307 


XL.  Jade  and  Bronze  Objects  of  the  Chou  Period,  used  in  Dressing 
the  Corpse 

Fig.  I.  Jade  Knob  with  Relief  of  Frog.  Cat.  .N'o.  116520. 

Fig.  2.  Cast-Bronze  Knob  with  Relief  of  Frog.  Cat.  .\o 
116521. 

Fig.  3.  Bronze  Cast  of  Realistic  Tigerhead.  Cat.  Ko 
116524. 

Fig.  4 a and  b.  Pair  of  Monsters  in  Hollow  Bronze  Cast. 

Cat.  Xo.  116523. 

Fig.  4 c.  The  Same,  Side-\  ’^iew. 

Fig.  5-  Bronze  Cast  with  same  Design,  on  Smaller  Scale,  used 
for  Women.  Cat.  X'o.  116522. 

XLI.  Jade  Carvings  of  Fishes 

. Figs.  I,  2.  .Mortuary  Fishes,  Han  Period.  Cat.  X'os.  116538, 
116537. 


309 


Fig.  3.  For  Comparison;  .Modern  Carving  of  Fish  with  Lotus- 
Flowers.  Cat.  Xo.  33516. 

XLII.  Mortuary  Jade  Carvings 

Fig.  I.  Full  Figure  of  Butterfly  in  Open  Work,  Ts'in  or  Han 
Period.  Cat.  Xo.  116601. 

Fig.  2.  Carving  of  Frog,  Han  Period.  Cat.  Xo.  116593. 

Fig.  3.  Carving  of  Man,  Han  Period.  Cat.  .Xo.  116604. 
XLIII.  (Colored.)  Jade  Carving  of  .Monster  p'i-sieh,  Han  Period.  Cat.  Xo. 

1 16600 

XLIV.  Jade  Vase  of  Sung  Period,  Side  and  Front-view.  Cat.  Xo. 

116612  

XLV.  Jade  Cups  and  Bowls  

Fig.  I.  Jade  Cup  surrounded  by  Hydras  and  Plum-Tree  in 
High  Undercut  Reliefs,  Ming  Period.  Cat.  Xo.  116616. 

- Fig.  2.  Jade  Bowl  (View  of  Bottom)  with  Relief  of  Lotus, 

Ming  Period.  Cat.  Xo.  116614. 

Fig-  3-  Jade  Loving-Cup,  K'ien-lung  Period.  Cat.  Xo. 

1 16638. 

XLVI.  Set  of  V\  hite  Jade  Ewer  and  VMse,  Ming  Period.  Cat.  Xos. 

1 16617,  1 16618 

XLVII.  Incense-Burner  carved  from  White  Jade  in  Openwork,  .Ming 

Period.  Cat.  Xo.  116613  

XLVIII.  Yunnan-Marble  Plate,  Ming  Period.  Cat.  Xo.  1 16615.  • 

XLIX.  Jade  Vases  of  K'ien-lung  Period 

Fig.  I.  Plain  Flowervase  of  Yellow  Han  Jade.  Cat.  Xo. 
116641. 

Fig.  2.  Flowervase  Decorated  with  Floral  Designs  in  Relief, 
carved  from  Han  Jade.  Cat.  Xo.  1 16640. 

L.  Green  Bowl  with  Floral  Reliefs  in  Cameo  Style,  K'ien-lung 

Period.  Cat.  Xo.  116632 

LI.  Bottom  of  Bowl  shown  in  Preceding  Plate 

LII-  Fruit-Dishes  of  White  Jade,  K'ien-lung  Period 

Fig.  I.  Interior  of  Fruit- Dish.  Cat.  Xo.  116633,  t- 
Fig.  2.  Exterior  of  Fruit-Dish.  Cat.  Xo.  116633,  3- 
Fig.  3.  Pentagonal  Fruit-Dish.  Cat.  Xo.  116634. 


310 


311 

319 

319 


320 

321 

321 

322 


322 

322 

323 


XIV 


List  of  Illustrations. 


Opp.  Page 

LIII.  (Colored.)  Bell  carved  from  Han  Jade,  K'ien-lung  Period.  Cat. 

No.  116626 328 

LIV^.  Resonant  Stone  carved  from  Jade,  in  Shape  of  Dragon,  K'ien-lung 

Period.  Cat.  No.  116623 329 

LV.  Back  of  Jade  Sonorous  Stone  shown  in  Preceding  Plate  . . . 329 

LVI.  Resonant  Stone  carved  from  Jade,  K'ien-lung  Period.  Cat.  No. 

116624 329 

LVII.  Resonant  Stone  carved  from  Jade,  K'ien-lung  Period.  Cat.  No. 

116625 330 

LVIll.  Resonant  Stone  carved  from  Rock-Crystal.  K'ien-lung  Period. 

Cat.  No.  116653 330 

LIX.  Set  of  Jade  Resonant  Stone  and  Diskoid  Badge  of  Rank,  K'ien- 

lung  Period.  Cat.  Nos.  116629,  116630 330 

LX.  White  Jade  Carving  of  Mountain  Scenery,  K'ang-hi  Period. 

Cat.  No.  116619 331 

LXI.  Back  of  Jade  Carving  in  Preceding  Plate 331 

LXII.  White  Jade  Screen,  K'ien-lung  Period.  Cat.  No.  1 16620  . . 331 

LXIII.  Back  of  Jade  Screen  in  Preceding  Plate  331 

LXIV.  Jade  Works  of  the  K'ien-lung  Period 332 

Figs.  1-2,  Girdle  Ornaments  in  Openwork.  Cat.  Nos. 
116646,  116645. 

Fig.  3.  Carved  Ink-Box.  Cat.  No.  116637. 

Fig.  4.  Carving  of  Rock  with  Pine-Trees.  Cat.  No.  116621. 

Fig.  5.  Paper-Weight  of  Agate.  Cat.  No.  116639. 

LXV.  Jade  Works  of  the  K'ien-lung  Period 333 

Fig.  I.  Pair  of  White  Jade  Flutes.  Cat  No.  1 16631. 

Figs.  2-3.  Girdle  Buckles.  Cat.  Nos.  116592,  116643. 

Fig.  4.  Ink-Slab  with  Design  of  Well.  Cat.  No.  116635. 

Fig.  5.  Relief  of  Flowervase.  Cat.  No.  116622. 

LXVI.  Jade  Pomegranate  Tree  in  Jar  of  Cloisonne  Enamel,  K'ien-lung 

Period.  Cat.  No.  116652  334 

LXVII.  Jade  Chrysanthemums  in  Jar  of  Cloisonne  Enamel,  K'ien-lung 

Period.  Cat.  No.  116652,  2 334 

LXVIII.  So-ealled  Sceptres  of  Good  Luck,  K'ien-lung  Period  ....  335 

Fig.  I.  Cast  Iron,  Ornaments  inlaid  with  Gold  and  Silver  Wire. 

Cat.  No.  117685. 

Fig.  2.  Carved  from  Wood,  inlaid  with  Three  Plaques  of  White 
Jade.  Cat.  No.  116628. 

Fig.  3.  Carved  from  White  Jade  with  Three  Reliefs. 

116627. 


Cat.  No. 


INTRODUCTION 


“The  Illustrated  Mirror  of  Jades  says: 
In  the  second  month,  the  plants  in  the 
mountains  receive  a bright  luster.  When 
their  leaves  fall,  they  change  into  jade. 
The  spirit  of  jade  is  like  a beautiful 
woman.” 

• 

The  two  minerals  nephrite  and  jadeite,  popularly  comprised  under 
the  name  jade,  belong  to  the  hardest  and  most  cherished  materials  of 
which  primitive  man  availed  himself  in  shaping  his  chisels,  hatchets, 
ornaments,  amulets  and  many  other  implements.  Such  objects,  par- 
tially of  considerable  antiquity,  have  been  found  in  many  parts  of  the 
world— in  Asia,  New  Zealand,  in  prehistoric  Europe  and  America.  The 
geographical  areas  occupied  by  nephrite  are  so  extended  that  it  may 
almost  be  classified  with  flint  as  one  of  those  mineral  substances  utilized 
to  a large  extent  by  a great  number  of  peoples.  Since  the  localities 
where  nephrite  occurs  in  nature  seem  to  be  difficult  to  discover,  and 
since  nephrite  was  known  for  a long  time  as  coming  only  from  Asia  and 
New  Zealand,  and  jadeite  merely  from  certain  districts  of  Asia,  the 
scientific  world  was  being  held  in  long  suspense  by  what  is  knoun  as 
the  nephrite  question.  Though  now  a matter  of  historical  interest, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  to  review  it  briefly  for  the  instructive  value  \\  hich 

it  bears  on  the  development  of  science. 

At  the  time  when  Heinrich  Fischer'  in  Freiburg  carried  on  his  epoch- 
making  investigations  on  the  mineralogical  and  archaeological  sides  of 
crude  and  uTought  jades,  no  places  of  the  occurrence  in  situ  of  nephrite 
were  known  in  either  Europe  or  America.  The  problem,  therefore, 
pivoted  around  the  question  as  to  how  the  peoples  of  these  two  parts 
of  the  world  had  obtained  the  material  for  their  nephrite  and  jadeite 
objects.  It  then  was  a matter  of  natural  consequence  that  Fischer 
should  elaborate  the  theory  that  the  nephrite  objects  in  pre-Columbian 
America  had  been  transported  there,  owing  to  an  influx  and  settlement 
of  Asiatic  tribes,  and  that  those  brought  to  light  in  Europe  were  ac- 
counted for  by  the  assumption  of  a prehistoric  commercial  intercourse 
with  Asia,  or  by  the  migrations  of  peoples.^  This  argument  once 


1 See  Bibliography  at  end. 

2 It  should  be  remarked,  by  the  way,  that  Fischer  was  a true  scholar  and  inost 

conscientious  worker,  and  certainly  greater  in  his  lifelong  error  than  ^ minor 

demi-scholar  who  postfestum  celebrated  a cheap  triumph  over  the  end  of  the  nephnte 
question. 


2 


Introduction. 


formed  an  important  factor  in  the  heated  debate  over  the  Indogcrmanic 
migrations  and  the  original  habitat  of  the  group,  and  was  exploited  in 
favor  of  a supposition  of  an  eastern  origin  of  the  neolithic  culture  of 
Europe.*  In  1900,  Oscar  Montelius  (Die  Chronologic  der  altesten 
Bronzczeit,  p.  204)  wrote:  “There  is  much  divergence  of  opinion  on 
the  often  discussed  question  whether  the  numerous  works  of  jadeite 
and  nephrite  excavated  in  southern  and  central  Europe  have  to  be 
explained  as  an  importation  from  the  Orient.  I am  of  opinion  that  at 
all  events  some  of  these  works  are  to  be  attributed  to  such  an  importa- 
tion.” Fischer’s  theory  was  first  attacked  by  A.  B.  Meyer  in  several 
papers,  particularly  “Die  Nephritfrage  kein  Ethnologisches  Problem” 
(Berlin,  1883;  translated  in  American  Anthropologist,  Vol.  I,  1888, 
pp.  231-242).  First,  Meyer  thought  it  improbable  that  ready-made 
implements  or  unwrought  stones  should  have  been  transported  over 
oceans  and  wide  tracts  of  land;  an  argument  of  no  great  validity,  as 
there  are,  in  the  history  of  trade,  numerous  examples  pro\'ing  the  con- 
trary. Secondly,  he  referred  to  localities,  increasing  from  year  to  year, 
where  jade  occurring  in  situ  had  become  known.  Captain  I.  H.  Jacob- 
sen brought  nephrite  from  Alaska,  where  it  is  found  as  a mineral  and 
worked  by  the  natives  into  numerous  objects.*  In  Europe,  strata  of 
nephrite  were  discovered  in  the  eastern  Alps  in  the  Sann  valley,  near 
St.  Peter,  and  in  the  Murr  valley,  near  Graz.  In  Switzerland,  bowlders 
of  jadeite  were  sighted  on  Lake  Neuenburg;  even  a sort  of  nephrite 
workshop  was  discovered  in  the  vicinity  of  Maurach,  where  hatchets 
chiseled  from  the  mineral  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  pieces  of 
cuttings  were  found.  At  the  foot  of  Mount  Viso,  in  Italy,  jadeite  was 
met  with  in  situ.  Single  erratic  bowlders  of  nephrite  in  diluvial 
deposits  had  been  signaled  in  Germany  at  an  earlier  date,  near  Schwemm- 
sal,  Potsdam,  and  Leipzig,  the  latter  weighing  seventy-nine  pounds 
(Fischer,  pp.  3-5  et  passim).  Credner  supposed  that  these  three 
bowlders  were  transported  through  the  ice  from  Scandinavia  to  their 
present  localities.  Another  geologist,  Traube,  succeeded  in  discover- 
ing nephrite  in  situ  in  small  bands  and  greater  layers  near  Jordansmuhl 
in  the  serpentine  strata  of  the  Zobten  mountains  of  Silesia.  A large 
serpentine  hatchet  instratified  with  bands  of  nephrite  is  knoum  from 
Gnichwitz  only  two  miles  distant  from  Jordansmuhl,  and  made  from  a 
material  which  agrees  with  the  material  of  the  latter  locality.  Thus, 
Fischer’s  ingenious  hypothesis  of  importation  or  migration  could  no 
longer  be  upheld  in  regard  to  Germany. 

* Ma.x  Muller,  Biographies  of  Words,  Appendix  II:  The  Original  Home  of 

Jade.  London,  1888. 

* For  further  notes  regarding  the  occurrence  of  jade  in  America,  see  article 
‘‘Nephrite,”  by  Mr.  Hodge  in  Handbook  of  American  Indians,  Vol.  II,  pp.  55-56 
(Washington,  1910). 


Introduction. 


3 

The  most  important  investigation  in  the  direction  of  proving  the 
indigenous  origin  of  the  jade  objects  of  Switzerland  was  undertaken 
by  A.  BoDMEk'-BEDER  in  Zurich.^  He  made  a great  number  of  careful 
examinations  of  stone  implements  from  the  Smss  lake-dwellings  and 
by  comparing  these  with  the  analyses  of  the  raw  material  found  in 
Switzerland,  he  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  species  of  nephrite 
met  with  in  the  nephrite  objects  of  Lake  Zug  occurs  in  situ  in  the 
territory  of  the  Gotthard,  whence  it  arrived  in  the  district  of  Zug  through 
the  movement  of  glaciers  and  rivers,  and  that  also  the  human  products 
discovered  in  the  other  lakes  are  of  autochthonous  material.  Scientists 
are  generally  con\  inced  now  that  the  end  of  the  nephrite  Question 
has  come,  that  such  a question  no  longer  exists.  It  seems  perfectly 
safe  to  assume  that  the  ancient  jade  objects  of  Europe  and  America 
were  not  imported  from  Asia,  but,  for  the  greater  part,  manufactured 
on  the  spot.  Certainly,  it  does  not  now  follow  that  each  and  every 
jade  object  wherever  found  must  be  a local  production,  and  that  an 
historical  inquiry  is  gagged  forever.  The  channels  of  historical  devel- 
opment are  manifold  and  complex,  and  the  working  after  an  easy 
schematic  routine  is  fatal  and  infertile.  No  lesser  archaeologist  than 
SoPHUs  Muller  (Urgeschichte  Europas,  p.  21,  Strassburg,  1905) 
sounded  a timely  warning  to  this  over-enthusiasm  by  remarking: 
“It  is  true,  one  has  succeeded  in  recent  years  after  long  search  in 
pointing  out  nephrite  and  jadeite  in  the  Alps,  but  merely  under  condi- 
tions which  render  it  highly  improbable  that  the  extensive  territories 
where  such  hatchets  are  found  should  have  deriv^ed  them  from  there. 
We  may  rather  presume  ^\dth  certainty  that  at  least  a great  part  of 
the  hatchets  mentioned  have  been  imported  by  commerce  from  the 
Orient,^  whence  the  knowledge  of  polishing  hatchets  is  derived.  At  a 
somewhat  later  time,  an  extensive  trade  in  stone  artefacts  was  carried 
on  within  the  boundaries  of  Europe.” 

The  naturalists  have  had  their  say  in  the  matter,  but  the  historian 
is  entitled  to  push  his  reflections  farther  on.  Further  investigations 
will  be  required  for  a satisfactory'  solution  of  all  questions  bearing 
on  the  dissemination  of  jade  implements.  The  origin,  e.  g.,  of  the 
jade  hatchets  unearthed  by  Schliemann  in  the  oldest  walled  city  at 
Hissarlik  has,  to  my  knowledge,  not  yet  been  determined.  I certainly 
admit  that  the  question  in  its  widest  range  as  raised  by  Fischer  has 
been  settled,  but  there  are  still  other  sides  to  it  calling  for  attention. 

* Petrographische  Untersuchungen  von  Steinwerkzeugen  und  ihrer  Rohmateria- 
lien  aus  Schweizerischen  Pfahlbaustatten  (Neues  Jahrbuch  fur  Mineraloeie,  Vol  XVI 
1903,  p.  166). 

2 Compare  article  by  C.  Mehlis,  Exotische  Steinbeile  {Archivfiir  Antkropoloeie. 
Vol.  XXVII,  1902,  No.  4,  pp.  599-611). 


4 


iNTRODUCTIOIi. 


If  we  consider  how  many  years,  and  what  strenuous  efforts  it  required 
for  European  scientists  to  discover  the  actual  sites  of  jade  in  central 
Europe,  which  is  geographically  so  well  explored,  we  m^y  realize  that 
it  could  not  have  been  quite  such  an  easy  task  for  primitive  man  to 
hunt  up  these  hidden  places,  even  granted  that  geological  conditions 
may  then  have  been  different  or  more  favorable.  Or  was  that  primi- 
tive man  so  much  keener  and  more  resourceful  than  our  present  scien- 
tists? Or  if  not,  we  must  grant  him  the  same  difficulties  in  the  search 
for  jade  as  to  them.  And  if  he  overcame  these  difficulties  and  after  all 
found  jade,  it  seems  to  me  that  he  must  have  been  prompted  by  a 
motive  pre-existing  and  acting  in  his  mind;  the  impetus  of  searching 
for  jade,  he  must  have  received  somehow  and  from  somewhere,  in  the 
same  manner  as  was  the  case  with  our  modem  scientists  who,  without 
the  nephrite  question  in  their  heads,  w'ould  not  have  searched  for  it, 
and  wffio  finally  found  it,  only  because  they  sought  it.  This  is  the 
psychological  side  of  the  historical  aspect  of  the  problem. 

Why  did  the  Romans  discover  the  Terra  Sigillata  on  the  Rhine  and 
in  other  parts  of  Germany  unknowm  to  the  indigenous  population? 
Because  they  w'erc  familiar  wdth  this  peculiar  clay  from  their  Mediter- 
ranean homes,  because  they  prized  this  pottery  highly  and  desired  it  in 
their  new  home.  Let  us  suppose  that  we  should  not  possess  any  records 
relating  to  the  history  of  porcelain.  The  chief  substance  of  wffiich  it  is 
made,  kaolin,  is  now  found  in  this  country,  in  Germany,  Holland, 
France  and  England,  all  of  wffiich  produce  objects  of  porcelain;  con- 
sequently, porcelain  is  indigenous  to  Europe  and  America,  because 
the  material  is  found  there.  By  a lucky  chance  of  history  we  know 
that  it  w'as  made  in  neither  country  before  the  beginning  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  and  that  the  incentive  received  from  China  was  the 
stimulus  to  Boettger’s  rediscovery  in  Dresden.  Of  course,  arguing 
a priori,  the  peoples  of  Europe  and  America  could  have  made  porcelain 
ages  ago;  the  material  was  at  their  elbows,  but  the  bmtal  fact  remains 
that  they  did  not,  that  they  missed  the  opportunity,  and  that  only 
the  importation  and  investigation  of  Chinese  porcelain  were  instm- 
mental  in  hunting  for  and  finding  kaolinic  clay.  And,  while  there  have 
been  porcelains  produced  by  local  industry  in  Europe  and  America 
for  the  last  tw'o  centuries,  we  have,  side  by  side  wdth  them,  numerous 
direct  imports  from  China  wffiich  continue  despite  the  output  of  the 
home  market. 

Similar  conditions  may  have  prevailed  also  in  an  early  stage  of 
the  history  of  Europe.  Even  if  jade  oecurs  there  in  a natural  state  in 
several  loealities,  even  if  there  is  conclusive  proof  that  it  was  dug  and 
■worked  in  various  areas,  w'e  are  entitled  to  question, — did  the  idea 


Introduction. 


5 

of  searching  for  jade,  working  it  and  valuing  it  so  highly,  originate 
independently  in  all  these  quarters?  Is  it  not  possible,  at  least  the- 
oretically, that  such  an  idea  once  arising  was  diffused  from  tribe  to 
tribe  or  group  to  group,  as  the  agency  in  the  search  for  the  prized 
material?  Even  in  the  present  state  of  the  question,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  possibilities  of  a trade  in  jade  pieces  existed,  as  sug- 
gested by  O.  Alontelius  and  Sophus  Muller,  whom  Herman  Hirt 
(Die  Indogermanen,  Vol.  I,  p.  317,  Strassburg,  1905)  joins  in  their 
V iew , as  the  sources  from  which  they  are  derived  are  restricted  to 
a few  localities.  Such  a commerce  in  Europe  was  an  easy  transaction, 
if  compared  \\  ith  the  striking  parallel  in  Asia  moving  on  a much  larger 
scale.  For  the  last  two  millenniums,  Turkistan  has  furnished  to  China 
the  greater  supply  of  her  jade,  wrought  and  unwrought,  and  the  most 
colossal  bowlders  of  the  mineral  were  constantly  transported  from 
Khotan  to  Si-ngan  fu  and  Peking  ov’er  a trade-route  unparalleled  in 
extent  and  arduousness  in  Europe  and  requiring  a four  to  six  months’ 
journey.  There  is,  further,  the  example  of  the  lively  trade  in  jadeite 
from  Burma  overland  into  Yunnan  Province,  and  the  transportation 
of  jeweled  nephrite  objects  from  India  into  China  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  These  are  all  achievements  of  commerce  and  transportation 
compared  to  which  the  difficulties  in  the  limited  area  of  Europe  dwindle 
into  a nothingness.  If  bronze  was  bartered  from  the  Orient  into  the 
northernmost  part  of  Europe,  if  Prussian  amber  found  its  way  to  Italy, 
Greece  and  anterior  Asia,  and  if  obsidian  was  everyvv^here  propagated 
by  trade  (Sophus  Muller,  L c.,  p.  48;  R.  Dussaud,  Les  civilisations 
pr^hell^niques,  p.  77),  it  is  reasonable  and  logical  to  conclude  that 
the  same  opportunities  were  open  to  jade. 

Nothing  could  induce  me  to  the  belief  that  primitive  man  of  central 
Europe  incidentally  and  spontaneously  embarked  on  the  laborious  task 
of  quarrying  and  w^orking  jade.  The  psychological  motive  for  this  act 
must  be  supplied,  and  it  can  be  deduced  only  from  the  source  of  his- 
torical facts.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  general  development  of 
culture  in  the  Old  World,  there  is  absolutely  no  vestige  of  originality 
in  the  prehistoric  cultures  of  Europe  which  appear  as  an  appendix  to 
Asia.  Originality  is  certainly  the  rarest  thing  in  this  world,  and  in 
the  history  of  mankind  the  original  thoughts  are  appallingly  sparse. 
There  is,  in  the  light  of  historical  facts  and  experiences,  no  reason  to 
credit  the  prehistoric  and  early  historic  populations  of  Europe  with 
any  spontaneous  ideas  relative  to  jade;  they  received  these,  as  every- 
thing else,  from  an  outside  source;  they  gradually  learned  to  appreciate 
the  value  of  this  tough  and  compact  substance,  and  then  set  to  hunting 
for  natural  supplies. 


6 


Introduction. 


The  most  extensive  collection  of  jades  in  existence  is  the  Heber  R. 
Bishop  collection,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  now  on  view  in  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York.  The  object  of  this  collection 
is  universal  and  includes  specimens  of  jades  from  all  countries  and  ages. 
It  is  exceedingly  rich  in  magnificent  objects  of  Chinese  art,  of  intrinsic 
value  from  an  artistic  point  of  view.  The  collection  of  Chinese  jades 
which  I had  the  opportunity  to  make  for  the  Field  Museum  in  Si-ngan 
fu,  Shensi  Province,  on  two  occasions  in  1909  and  1910,  is  chiefly 
gathered  from  an  archaeological  standpoint  to  illustrate  an  important 
phase  in  the  ancient  culture-life  of  China,  and  represents  by  no  means 
a duplicate  parallel  to  the  Bishop  collection,  as  it  includes  a great 
deal  of  material  which  does  not  e.xist  in  the  latter.  Also  in  the  de- 
partment of  eighteenth  century  jades,  there  is  a marked  difference 
between  the  Mrs.  Blackstone  and  the  Bishop  collections,  as  pointed 
out  here  in  the  concluding  chapter.  Mr.  Bishop’s  Chinese  specimens 
of  jade,  I understand,  were  mostly  procured  in  Peking  or  Shanghai, 
where  the  gorgeous  modern  art -work  prevails.  The  greater  opportu- 
nity for  objects  of  archaeological  interest  is  afforded  in  Si-ngan  fu,  the 
centre  of  the  old  civilization  where  numerous  primitive  specimens  are 
exhumed  from  the  graves  of  the  Chou  and  Han  periods,  and  where  the 
best  private  jade  collections  of  Chinese  connoisseurs  exist.  I had  the 
good  fortune  to  receive  valuable  instruction  there  from  an  expert 
scholar  who  had  spent  almost  a life-time  on  the  study  of  mortuary 
jades  and  other  antiquities,  and  whose  extensive  collections,  partly 
the  fruit  of  his  own  excavations,  were  gradually  acquired  by  me.  The 
interesting  jade  amulets  of  the  dead,  chiefly  derived  from  his  collection, 
are  here  published  for  the  first  time  with  his  explanations,  nor  have 
they  ever  been  described  before  in  any  Chinese  book.  None  of  these 
types  are  in  the  Bishop  collection.  For  this  and  other  reasons,  the 
two  are  not  rival  collections,  but  supplement  each  other  in  many 
respects. 

The  description  of  the  Bishop  collection  appeared  in  two  volumes 
under  the  title  “Investigations  and  Studies  in  Jade,”  New  York, 
privately  printed,  1906.  The  preface  of  Heber  R.  Bishop  is  dated 
June,  1902.'  The  collection  is  stated  there  to  number  nine  hundred 
specimens,  which  are  catalogued  under  the  three  headings  mineralogical, 
archaeological,  and  art  objects.  Nearly  two  hundred  pieces  were 
presented  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  New  York.  Yol.  I 
(277  pages)  consists  of  five  parts.  Part  I 'contains  a general  intro- 
duction with  a survey  of  the  nephrite  question.  Part  II,  entitled 

> He  died  in  December  of  the  same  year.  A sketch  of  his  life  and  aspirations 
written  by  G.  F.  Kunz  will  be  found  in  American  Anthropologist,  1903,  pp.  1 1 i-i  17. 


Introduction.  ^ 

“Jade  in  China,”  is  elaborated  by  S.  W.  Busiiell.  Mr.  Bishop  re- 
quested “a  condensed  artiele  on  jade  by  a native  Chinese  scholar 
treating  upon  its  uses  in  China  from  the  earliest  period  down  to  the 
present  day.”  Accordingly,  Dr.  Bushell  commissioned  a scholar, 
T ang  Jung-tso  by  name,  to  write  such  an  essay,  the  text  of  which  is 
reproduced  in  facsimile  and  provided  with  a translation  by  Bushell. 
This  document  is  composed  of  a conglomeration  of  literary  quotations 
from  ancient  texts  which  are  rather  inexactly  and  sometimes  incom- 
pletely cited.  Dr.  Bushell  did  not  verify  them  from  the  originals, 
and  it  is  hard  to  see  why  a Chinese  scholar  of  his  standing  agreed  to 
such  a procedure,  as  he  certainly  knew  that  the  Chinese  cyclopaedias, 
above  all  the  T'u  shu  isi  ch'eng,  contain  the  completest  possible  col- 
lections of  notes  on  jade.  I do  not  see  much  sensible  exposition  of  the 
subject  of  jade  from  the  Chinese  standpoint  in  T'ang  Jung-tso’s  essay, 
which,  though  undeniably  comprising  a number  of  useful  extracts,' 
lacks  intelligent  understanding.  Another  Chinese  article  written  by 
Li  Shih-ch  iian  and  illustrated  with  sketches  depicting  the  various 
stages  in  the  modern  manufacture  of  jade  is  very  instructive.  Part 
III,  Jade  as  a Mineral,”  edited  by  G.  F.  Kunz,  presents  the 
most  complete  and  thorough  investigation  of  this  subject  carried 
on  by  a whole  staff  of  specialists.  The  questions  treated  in  detail 
in  this  section  are  the  colors  of  jade,  whether  natural  or  the  result 
of  weathering  or  staining;  the  translucency,  lustre,  opalescence, 
sheen,  and  other  qualities;  the  tenacity  of  jade;  its  resonant  quality 
which  makes  it  valued  by  the  Chinese  as  a material  for  musical 
instruments;  the  relative  hardness  and  sjiecific  gravity  of  nephrite 
and  jadeitc,  their  different  chemical  constitution,  and  the  localifies 
of  their  occurrence.  Part  IV  is  devoted  to  a sketch  of  the  methods 
of  working  jade.  Part  V,  “Worked  Jade,”  is  intended  to  give  a 
general  summary  of  this  subject  under  two  headings,  “Prehistoric” 
and  “Historic.”  Vol.  II  (293  pages)  contains  the  descriptive  cata- 
logue of  the  collection.  Dr.  Bushell  has  bestowed  great  pains  in 
fully  describing  the  Chinese  portion  of  it  and  explaining  with  careful 
exactness  the  ornamentation  and  inscriptions  displayed  on  the  fine 
Chinese  specimens  in  which  the  collection  abounds.  Mr.  Bishop 
expressed  in  the  preface  the  hope  that  his  book  might  be  found  to  be  of 
some  value  as  a book  of  reference.  His  work  is  doubtless  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  sumptuous  books  ever  published  in  this  country, 
but  it  is  a matter  for  profound  regret  that  its  valuable  contents  is 
practically  lost  to  science,  owing  to  its  unwieldy  size  and  weight  (one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds)  and  its  distribution  in  only  ninetv- 
eight  copies,  none  of  which  have  been  sold,  but  which  have  all  been 


8 


Introduction. 


presented  to  libraries,  museums,  and  it  is  said,  “to  the  crowned  heads 
and  other  great  rulers  of  the  world.”  It  would  be  desirable  that  the 
main  bulk  of  the  work  might  be  republished  in  a convenient  edition 
for  wider  circulation. 

As  the  collection  of  Chinese  jades  in  the  Field  Museum  w^as  made 
by  me  from  another  point  of  view  than  is  the  Bishop  collection  in 
New'  York,  so  the  contents  of  this  study  is  plainly  distinct  from  the 
monumental  w'ork  of  Mr.  Bishop.  The  subjects  treated  there  have 
not  been  repeated  here.  The  methods  of  working  jade  and  the  trade 
in  jade  from  Turkistan  and  Burma  to  China  are  not  discussed,  as  Dr. 
Bushell  has  thoroughly  canvassed  this  ground.  He  has  also  w'orked 
up  a map  showing  the  jade-producing  districts  of  Turkistan.  New 
as  the  subject  matter  of  this  publication  is,  aside  from  the  concluding 
chapter,  which  was  necessary  in  order  to  trace  the  development  of 
jade  w'orks  dowm  to  the  present  time,  so  also  is  the  presentation  of  the 
subject  itself  w'hich  is  based  on  archaeological  methods.  I have  en- 
deavored to  furnish  a piece  of  research-work  in  w'hich  jade  is  to  yield 
the  material  to  delineate  cultural  and  chiefly  religious  developments 
in  ancient  China.  I do  not  mean  to  deal  w'ith  jade  for  its  own  sake, 
but  as  a means  to  a certain  end;  it  merely  forms  the  background,  the 
leading  motive,  for  the  exposition  of  some  fundamental  ideas  of  Chinese 
religious  concept  which  find  their  most  characteristic  expression  and 
illustration  in  objects  of  jade.  To  trace  their  relation  to  thought  was 
therefore  my  chief  aim,  and  hence  the  result  has  rather  become  a 
contribution  to  the  psychology  of  the  Chinese. 

A consideration  of  the  Chinese  sources  utilized  will  give  also  occa- 
sion to  speak  on  the  methods  pursued  by  me  and  some  of  the  general 
results  of  the  work. 

Antiquities  of  jade  have  been  treated  by  the  Chinese  in  the  following 
special  works: 

1.  K'ao  ku  t'u,  “Investigations  of  Antiquities  w'ith  Illustrations,” 
by  Lu  Ta-lin,  in  ten  chapters,  first  published  during  the  Sung  dynasty 
in  1092,  and  re-edited  by  Huang  Sheng  in  1753  as  an  appendix  to 
Wang  Fu’s  Po  ku  t'u.  In  Chapter  8,  a small  collection  of  jades  in  the 
possession  of  Li  Po-shih  from  Lu-kiang  is  figured,  but  without  in- 
vestigation. 

2.  Ku  yii  t'u,  “Ancient  Jades  Illustrated,”  by  Chu  Teh-jun,  in 
two  chapters,  published  1341,  and  republished  in  1753  with  the  edition 
of  the  Po  ku  t'u  mentioned.  The  explanations  appended  to  the  illus- 
trations are  meagre;  several  of  them  have  been  reprodueed  in  this  paper. 

3.  Kti  yii  t'u  p'u,  “Illustrated  Description  of  Ancient  Jades”  in  100 
chapters,  being  the  collection  of  jade  belonging  to  the  first  emperor 


Introduction.  ^ 

of  the  wSouthem  Sung  dynasty,  Kao-tsung  (1127-1162  a.  d.)  and  con- 
sisting of  over  seven  hundred  pieces,  prepared  by  a commission  of 
nineteen,  including  one  writer  and  four  artists,*  headed  bv  Lung  T\ 
YUAN,_  president  of  the  Board  of  Rites  {Li  pu)  who  also  prefaced  the 
work  in  1176  Dr.  Bushell,  who  has  devoted  a careful  study  to  this 
book,  gives  also  a translation  of  this  preface  (Bishop  Vol  I p 22) 
The  second  preface  {Ibid.,  p.  33)  by  Kiang  Ch'un,  dated  1779’,  relates 
how  a manuscript  copy  of  the  book  had  been  purchased  in  1773,  when 
the  Emperor  had  issued  a decree  to  search  throughout  the  empire  for 
lost  books,  and  a copy  sent  to  be  e.xamined  by  the  librarv  commission 
then  sitting  This  year  I again  read  through  the  original  manuscript 
and  found  the  description  clearly  written  and  the  illustrations  cleverlv 
^ecuted,  so  that  it  was  worthy  of  being  compared  with  the  Siian  ho 
Po  ku  t'u.  This  book  describes  the  ancient  bronzes  referred  to  in  the 
Chou  li,  while  our  work  describes  the  jade,  so  that  we  could  not  spare 
edher.  The  Po  ku  t'u  was  reprinted  several  times  and  gained  a wide 
circulation,  while  this  book  remained  in  manuscript*  and  attracted  no 
notice,  not  being  included  in  the  Catalogue  of  Literature  of  the  Sung 
Hrstory,  nor  quoted  by  older  writers.  Lung  Ta-yiian,  whose  name  is 
included  m the  chapter  on  Imperial  Sycophants  of  the  Sung  History, 
died  before  the  date  of  publication,  but  he  is  left  at  the  head  of  the 
commission,  in  memory  of  the  work  done  by  him.  His  actions  were 
not  worthy,  but  that  is  no  reason  for  suppressing  his  book.  I venture 
to  bring  this  book  before  the  eye  of  the  Emperor,  that  it  may  again 
be  referred  to  the  library  committee  for  revision  and  be  corrected  by 

them,  and  have  the  honor  of  being  reprinted  under  special  imperial 
authority.” 

The  verdict  of  the  Library  Committee  seems  to  have  been  unsatis- 
factory, continues  Dr.  Bushell,  for  they  criticize  the  book  most  severely 
in  the  Imperial  Catalogue  {Se  ku  ts'iian  shu  tsung  mu,  Ch.  116,  pp.  7-9) 
on  account  of  there  being  no  references  to  it  in  later  books,  and  of 
certain  anachronisms  in  the  list  of  members  of  the  commission,  and 
declare  it  finally  to  be  a fraud,  and  not  even  a clever  one;  without  any 
examination,  however,  of  the  contents— as  Bushell  adds,  which  could 
have  hardly  been  the  case. 


Liu  Sung-nien,  Li  T ang,  Ma  Yiian,  and  Ilia  Kuei.  It  was  their  task  to 
^ OTigimil  copy  to  be  dedicated  to^the 

trnperor. 

in  lUo  1th, P'^  was  published  in  1176  and  republished 
' JP-  *^*?*^“:  Toung  Pao,  Vol.  \ II,  p.  500,  and  The  Ancient  History  of  China, 
•mA  tLfW"  l*"PO*-tance  to  note  that  1779  is  the  date  of  the  first  ^blication! 
and  that  the  work  was  allowed  to  remain  in  manuscript  up  to  that  time,  i.e.  over 
600  years.  The  original  manuscript  was  then  lost,  and  we  have  no  means  of  judging 
tL^pdnted  edition  ^ illustrations  of  the  original  have  been  preserved  in 


lO 


Introduction. 


If  it  is  too  much  to  say  that  the  whole  work  is  a fraud,  I quite  agree 
with  this  criticism  in  that  it  contains  a great  deal  of  purely  fictitious 
matter.  Fictitious  are,  in  my  opinion,  all  the  ancient  inscriptions 
alleged  to  be  inscribed  on  the  jades  which  have  never  existed  in  ancient 
times  and  are  simply  the  invention  of  the  T'ang  or  Sung  periods.' 
Even  Dr.  Bushell,  who  evinces  confidence  in  this  work,  admits  that 
there  are  many  tablets  figured  in  it  which  have  little  pretension  to  the 
great  antiquity  assigned  to  them,  and  that  some  of  the  inscriptions  are 
evidently  copied  from  pieces  of  ancient  bronze  figured  in  archaeological 
books,  and  that,  in  fact,  many  of  the  specimens  in  the  later  parts  of 
the  collection  seem  to  be  derived  from  a similar  source  — the  fountain- 
head of  almost  all  Chinese  decorative  art. 

It  is  also  suspicious  that  many  pieces,  e.  g.,  all  the  tablets  of  rank  in 
the  first  chapter  ascribed  to  the  Hia  dynasty,  have  been  inscribed  on 
the  back  as  having  belonged  to  the  T'ang  and  Southern  T'ang  dynasties. 

The  work  opens  unth  two  oblong  jade  tablets  ascribed  to  the  myth- 
ical emperor  Yu  from  the  supposed  resemblance  of  the  two  undeciphered 
characters  on  the  upper  side  with  the  so-called  tadpole  characters  on 
the  alleged  inscription  of  Yii  {Kou  lou  pet).  On  the  back,  we  find  an 
inscription  reading  “Dark-colored  tablet  (kuei)  of  Yti  the  sovereign 
who  regulated  the  waters.  Collection  of  the  Imperial  Treasury  of 
the  period  K'ai  yiian  (713-741  A.  D.)  of  the  Great  T'ang  dynasty.” 
The  Sung  authors  tell  us  that  these  two  pieces  came  to  light  in  the 
period  Chih  ho  (1054-55),  in  the  river  Ts'i  when  its  waters  were  dried 
up,  and  that  these  were  both  found  inside  of  large  bronze  kettles 
{ling)  each  weighing  over  a hundred  catties;  the  walls  of  these 
urns  were  covered  with  inscriptions  identical  in  character  with 
those  on  the  tablets.  The  Sung  authors  suppose  that  they  had  been 
thrown  into  the  river  during  the  T'ang  dynasty  as  an  offering  to  the 
river-god,  to  restore  the  river  to  normal  conditions.  But  would  genuine 
relics  of  the  Hia  dynasty  have  been  used  for  this  purpose?  It  seems 
rather  plausible  that  these  two  alleged  tablets  of  Yii  were  fabricated 
at  the  time  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  possibly  udth  the  idea  of  serv'ing  as 
offerings  to  a river-god.-  The  name  of  Yu  as  the  ruler  of  water  was 

inscriptions,  particularly  those  containing  dates,  on  jade  pieces  are  suspicious 
in  any  case.  In  the  best  archaeological  collection  of  jades,  that  of  Wu  Ta-ch'6ng 
(see  below),  there  is  among  two  hundred  and  fifteen  ancient  pieces,  not  one  inscribed, 
nor  is  there  one  in  my  collection.  A few  pieces  in  the  Bishop  collection  with  alleged 
Han  inscriptions  are,  for  this  and  also  for  other  reasons,  highly  suspicious.  'The 
dating  of  jade  objects  became  a fashion  only  in  the  K4en-lung  period. 

’ Also  Wu  Ta-ch'£ng  (see  below  under  5)  states  in  the  preface  of  his  work  that 
under  the  T'ang  and  Sung  many  imitations  of  jade  objects  were  made  which  can 
hardly  be  distinguished  from  the  ancient  genuine  ones.  The  same  author’s  judg- 
ment on  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  is:  "Its  drawback  consists  in  the  indiscriminate  choice 

of  a confused  mass  of  objects,  nor  does  it  betray  intelligence.” 


Introduction. 


1 1 

appropriately  chosen  for  such  a purpose,  and  the  two  characters  were 
modeled  after  the  curious  style  of  that  doubtless  ancient  inscription 
which  a later  age  has  associated  without  foundation  with  the  name  of 
Yu.  It  goes  without  saying  that  at  the  time  of  Yii,  if  such  a per- 
sonage ever  existed,  jade  tablets  of  this  type  had  not  yet  made  their 
debut,  for  these  were  purely  a creation  of  the  official  hierarchy  of  the 
Chou  dynasty.  Thus,  it  is  likewise  a legendary  anachroni.sm,  if  the 
Shu  king  (Ch.  Shun  lien,  7)  and  Se-nia  Ts'ien  (Cii.-vv.\nnes,  V^ol.  I, 
p.  61)  ascribe  the  five  insignia  of  rank  {u'u  jui)  to  the  mythical  emperor 
Shun,  as  these  are  connected  with  the  five  feudal  princes  and  the  whole 
system  of  feudalism  and  investiture  of  the  Chou  period;  and  Cii.\- 
vannes  is  certainly  right  in  saying  that  this  consideration  demonstrates 
the  legendary  character  of  the  accounts  relative  to  Shun.  There  is, 
further,  no  ancient  text  describing  a jade  tablet  of  the  tvpe  here  referred 
to,  and  if  it  were  by  any  means  an  object  really  going  back  to  times 
of  great  antiquity,  it  would  be  incredible  that  the  T'ang  people  should 
have  been  so  idiotic  as  to  fling  such  a precious  relic  douTi  to  the  bottom 
of  a river.  The  entire  story  of  the  Sung  authors,  gifted  with  a lively 
imagination,  is  open  to  grave  doubt  and  suspicion,  and  may,  after  all, 
be  a concoction  made  up  by  them  ad  hoc.  It  does  not  betray  much 
critical  acumen  on  their  part  to  make  these  two  ])ieces  contemporaneous 
with  Yir.^ 

Our  confidence  in  this  production  is  not  increased  by  considering 
the  two  following  jade  tablets  also  very  generously  attributed  to  the 
Emperor  Yii.  The  former  of  these  is  adorned  with  ten  unexplained 
and  unexplainable  characters  shaped  into  strange  figures  of  insects, 
fish,  and  birds;  on  the  back,  there  is  an  inscription  (in  li  shu)  calling 
this  specimen  “a  tablet  with  seal-characters  of  Yii”  (Yii  chuan  kuei) 
and  giving  the  period  Sheng  yiian  (937-942  a.  d.)  of  the  Nan  T'ang 
(reign  of  Li  King).  Nevertheless,  we  are  assured  that  the  w^riting  of 
\ ii  cannot  be  doubted.  The  latter  Yii  tablet  is  jjrovidcd  with  ten  seal 
characters,  and  the  same  inscription  on  the  reverse  as  the  preceding 
one.  Then  we  advance  to  a tablet  with  tw'enty-one  characters  of  a 
different  style,  said  to  resemble  those  on  the  bells  of  the  Shang  dynasty, 
wffiile  the  reverse  is  adorned  with  the  sentence:  “Jade  tablet  of  pros- 
perity of  the  rulers  of  the  Shang.”  Three  more  Shang  tablets  follow', 
marked  on  the  reverse  as  “preserved  in  the  treasury  of  the  period  T'ai 
ts'ing  of  the  Liang  dynasty”  (Wu  ti,  547-550  .a.  d.).  These  alleged  Shang 
tablets  are  just  as  fictitious  as  those  of  Yii;  tablets  of  this  kind  did  not 
exist  under  the  Shang,  and  if  they  had  existed,  would  not  have  been 

‘ One  of  these  is  figured  in  Co.nrady’s  China  (Pflugk-IIarUung's  Weltgeschichte, 
p.  528). 


12 


Introduction. 


engraved  with  inscriptions  in  general  nor  with  these  particular  in- 
scriptions, as  also  the  kuei  of  the  Chou  dynasty  were  never  provided 
with  them.  Curiously  enough,  the  number  of  Yti  tablets  is  four,  and 
the  same  number  applies  to  the  Shang  tablets;  there  is  also  numerical 
systematization  in  forgery. 

The  Chinese  cpigraphists  have  justly  passed  these  inscriptions  over 
with  silence,  and  1 am  not  aware  that  any  one  of  the  numerous 
Chinese  works  on  inscriptions  and  ancient  characters  has  ever  availed 
itself  of  the  services  of  the  Ku  yil  t'u  p'li.  It  is  unnecessary  to  con- 
tinue this  criticism,  as  we  shall  have  ample  occasion  to  come  back  to 
this  work  in  dealing  with  the  single  types  of  ancient  jades.  While  it 
is  entirely  untrustworthy  for  archaeological  studies,  it  has  a certain 
value  in  presenting  a grammar  of  ornaments  and  giving  the  names  for 
these,  as  they  were  current  in  the  Sung  period.  We  shall  see  in  the 
course  of  this  investigation  that  many  of  these  designs  are  strongly 
influenced  or  even  directly  created  by  the  pictorial  style  of  the  Sung 
artists,  and  that  they  represent  a more  interesting  contribution  to 
the  art  of  the  Sung  than  to  any  former  period. 

This  case  will  also  sufficiently  show  how  much  criticism  is  required 
for  judging  a Chinese  illustration  of  an  ancient  art-work,  which  should 
not  be  utilized  before  its  sources  and  merits  are  critically  examined  and 
ascertained.  Also  he  only  can  use  it  who  has  seen  and  handled  actual 
specimens  of  an  identical  or  similar  type;  the  imperfection  and  inac- 
curacy of  Chinese  drawings  will  always  lead  astray  one  who  has  missed 
those  opportunities.  The  favorite  method  of  culling  engravings  of 
bronzes  from  Chinese  books  and  building  far-reaching  conclusions  on 
this  material  as  to  the  development  of  ornamentation  cannot  be 
accepted  and  will  always  lead  to  grave  disappointments  in  the  end. 

4.  Tsi  ku  yil  t'u,  “Collection  of  Ancient  Jades  with  Illustrations,” 
a small  work  published  in  1341  during  the  Yuan  period.  In  all  prob- 
ability, this  book  is  now  lost;  it  is  quoted  occasionally  in  the  San  Is' at 
t'u  hid,  published  in  1607. 

5.  The  most  recent  and  valuable  Chinese  contribution  to  the 
study  of  antique  jades  is  entitled  Ku  yil  t'u  k'ao,  “Investigations  into 
Ancient  Jades  udth  Illustrations,”  in  two  quarto-volumes  published 
in  1889  by  the  well  known  scholar  and  statesman,  Wu  Ta-ch'eng,^ 
who  was  bom  in  Su-chou  in  1833.  He  graduated  as  tsin  shih  in  1868 
and  became  a member  of  the  Han-lin  College.  In  1884  he  went  to 
Corea  as  Commissioner,  then  served  as  Governor  of  Kuang-tung 
Province  and,  appointed  subsequently  Governor  of  Hunan,  made  a 
vain  attempt  to  introduce  the  telegraph  there.  In  1894  he  was  ordered 

* His  other  works  are  enumerated  by  P.vul  Pelliot,  T'oung  Pao,  1911,  p.  448. 


Introduction. 


13 


to  Tientsin  to  assist  Li  Hung-chang  against  the  Japanese;  his  efforts, 
however,  were  not  rewarded  with  success,  and  he  has  since  been  lixdng 
in  retirement;  he  is  said  to  be  an  enlightened  man  and  well-disposed 
towards  Europeans.*  In  his  work  on  jades,  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
pieces  are  illustrated  in  outline,  as  a rule  reduced  to  seven-tenths  of 
their  original  size,  described  as  to  their  coloring,  identified  with  their 
ancient  names  and  explained  with  quotations  from  ancient  literature, 
among  which  Chou  li,  Li  ki,  Shi  king,  Tso  chuan  and  the  dictionary 
Shuo  wen  are  conspicuous.  The  text  is  a facsimile  reprint  of  Wu’s 
own  expressive  and  energetic  handwriting.  The  engravings  in  his 
work  are  far  above  the  average  of  similar  accomplishments  of  the 
Chinese  and  executed  with  care  and  in  good  proportionate  measure- 
ments. As  most  of  these  jade  objects  and  their  designs  are  flat,  the 
Chinese  draughtsman  had  a much  easier  task  with  them  than  he 
encounters,  e.  g.,  with  bronze  vessels;  Chinese  art  is  one  of  linear  designs 
in  which  it  excels,  while  objects  of  bodily  dimensions  are  always  apt 
to  be  misdrawn  to  a certain  extent.  I was  forced  to  reproduce  the 
material  of  Wu  almost  in  its  entirety,  owing  to  its  great  archaeological 
importance.* 

It  will  be  noticed  at  a glance  how  widely  different  this  material 
is  from  that  published  in  the  former  Chinese  works.  All  his  ancient 
specimens  have  a spontaneously  archaic  character.  It  is  a truly 
archaeological  collection,  explained  with  great  erudition  and  acumen, 
and  reflects  the  highest  credit  on  the  modern  school  of  Chinese 
archaeologists.  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  is  not  bound  by  the  fetters  of  the  past 
and  not  hampered  by  the  accepted  school-traditions.  With  fair  and 
open  mind,  he  criticizes  the  errors  of  the  commentators  to  the  Chou  li, 
the  Ku  yU  t'u  p'u  and  many  others,  and  his  common  sense  leads  him 
to  new  and  remarkable  results  not  anticipated  by  any  of  his  predecessors. 
Because  my  own  collection  is  a counterpart  of  his,  being  made  from  an 
archaeological,  not  an  artistic  point  of  view,  I could  choose  no  better 
guide  for  the  interpretation  of  this  collection  than  him;  I have  fol- 
lowed him  with  keen  admiration  and  stand  to  him  in  the  relation  of 
a disciple  to  his  master.  If  I have  been  able  to  write  the  chapters  on 
the  jade  symbols  of  sovereign  power  and  the  jade  images  of  the  cosmic 
deities,  my  lasting  thanks  and  acknowledgments  are  due  to  this 
great  scholar  whose  ingenious  investigations  have  furnished  the  basis 
for  this  research;  but  for  his  efforts  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
attack  these  complicated  problems  with  any  chance  for  success. 

* .^fter  Giles,  Chinese  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  889. 

* All  text-figures  where  no  special  source  is  indicated  are  derived  from  the  book 
of  Wu. 


14 


Introduction. 


Only  a few  among  us  at  present  have  an  idea  of  the  extent  and 
depth  of  fruitful  archaeological  work  now  carried  on  by  Chinese  scholars. 
The  opinion  still  largely  prevails  in  our  circles  that  the  whole  archaeol- 
ogical Chinese  wisdom  is  bound  up  with  the  Sung  catalogues  of  the 
Po  ku  t'u  and  Kti  yii  t'u  p'u,  to  which  the  superficial  Si  ts'ing  ku  kien 
and  the  brilliant  Kin-shih  so  are  possibly  added.  But  there  are  many 
dozens  of  modern  well  illustrated  catalogues  of  bronzes  and  other 
antiquities  accompanied  by  keen  and  clever  disquisitions  which  do  not 
shun  discrediting  or  even  refuting  the  worn-out  statements  of  the 
Po  ku  I'u.  It  has  been  almost  entirely  overlooked  in  Europe  that  the 
latter  work,  however  valuable  it  may  be  in  many  respects,  presents 
nothing  but  the  traditions  of  the  Sung  period  relative  to  objects  of 
the  Chou  and  Han  periods;  it  must  be  thoroughly  examined  in  each 
and  every  case  in  how  far  those  claims  are  founded,  in  how  far  they 
agree  or  disagree  with  the  traditions  handed  down  in  the  contem- 
poraneous texts  of  antiquity,  and  in  how  far  they  may  be  biased  by 
the  peculiar  conditions  of  art  and  artists  obtaining  under  the  Sung 
dynasty.  The  so-called  monster  t'ao-t'ieh  certainly  existed  as  a decora- 
tive design  on  bronze  vases  of  the  Chou;  but  whether  in  all  cases,  when 
the  Po  ku  t'u  points  this  design  out  on  Chou  bronzes,  it  is  really  in- 
tended in  the  minds  of  the  Chou  artists  is  another  question  which 
requires  special  critical  examination;  for  there  are  many  designs  of 
other  conventional  monsters  on  those  ancient  bronzes. 

To  cite  only  one  example  as  to  how  far  modem  Chinese  archaeol- 
ogists go  in  contradicting  the  old,  beloved  school  opinions,  there  is  now 
the  unanimous  opinion  in  China  and  Japan  that  the  so-called  metal 
mirrors  with  designs  of  grapes,  birds,  lions  and  horses  cannot  come 
down  from  the  time  of  the  Han  dynasty,  as  asserted  by  the  Po  ku  t'u 
without  the  shadow  of  an  evidence ; they  originated  shortly  before  the 
T'ang  dynasty,  probably  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  and  I may  add, 
under  Persian  influence,  as  indeed  the  composition  of  this  pattern  first 
appears  in  the  Sassanidian  art  of  Persia,  but  never  in  Greek  art  as 
hitherto  believed  in  Europe.  For  all  serious  future  investigations  into 
Chinese  antiquities,  it  will  be  incumbent  on  us  to  pay  due  attention 
to  the  works,  opinions  and  results  also  of  modem  Chinese  (as  well  as 
Japanese)  archaeologists.  The  time  has  gone  when  only  the  Po  ku  t'u 
and  the  very  weak  Si  ts'ing  ku  kien,  which  is  of  small  value,  may  be 
ransacked  at  random  and  haphazardly  by  the  foreign  inquirer. 
Studies  exclusively  based  on  such  books,  without  regard  to  the  world 
of  reality,  deserve,  in  my  opinion,  no  acknowledgment  and  are  prac- 
tically worthless. 

Aside  from  these  monographs,  there  are  numerous  other  books 


Introduction. 


15 

devoting  a chapter  or  two  to  art-works  of  jade  and  cyclopiedias  giving 
extracts  and  quotations  on  the  subject.  The  Ko  ku  yao  lun  by  Ts'ao 
Chao,  published  in  1387,  and  the  Po  wu  yao  Ian  by  Ku  Ying-t'ai 
published  between  1621  and  1627,  are  especially  noteworthy.  The 
great  cyclopaedia  T u shu  tsi  ch'eng  of  1726,  a copy  of  which  is  in  the 
John  Crerar  Library  (C  750),  contains  eight  chapters  on  jade  in  its 
section  on  National  Economy,  Ch.  325-332-  There  is  also  a great 
amount  of  useful  information  in  the  Yen  kien  lei  han  (Original  Palace 
edition  of  1710  in  140  Vols.  in  the  Newberry  Library,  N 36),  Ko  chih 
king  yuan  published  in  1735  by  Ch'^:n  Yuan-lung  (1652-1736),  Phi 
ts'ao  kang^  mu  by  Li  Shih-chen  (completed  in  1578),  and  certainly 
in  the  P ei  wen  yiin  fu  (Ch.  100  a).  To  enumerate  all  Chinese  .sources 
is  unnecessary,  since  the  sinological  reader  knows  where  to  turn,  while 
no  advantage  would  accrue  from  such  a task  to  the  general  reader. 

As  our  collection  relates  to  the  cultural  conditions  of  antiquity, 
we  are  certainly  obliged  to  consult  the  ancient  texts  in  which  its  ideas 
are  reflected.  The  classical  Book  of  Songs  (Shi  king)  and  the  Book 
of  History  (Shu  king)  are  prominent  among  these. 

The  principal  sources  bearing  on  the  ancient  religious  cult  and 
containing  ample  material  on  the  ceremonial  usage  of  jade  are  the 
three  great  Rituals,  the  Chou  li,  the  Li  ki,  and  the  I li}  Of  the  former, 
we  possess  the  excellent  translation  by  Edouard  Biot^  which  is  a 
monument  of  stupendous  and  sagacious  erudition  and  remains  the 
only  work  of  Chinese  literature  heretofore  translated  into  any  foreign 
language  with  a complete  rendering  of  all  commentaries.  In  a great 
number  of  passages,  I was  prevented  from  following  any  of  the  ac- 
cepted translations,  especially  in  those  cases  where  archaeological 
objects  and  questions  are  involved.  If  it  is  true  that  Chinese  archae- 
ology must  be  based  on  the  knowledge  of  Chinese  texts  with  the  same 
method  as  classical  archaeology,  it  is  no  less  true  that  the  interpretation 
of  the  ancient  texts  will  have  a great  deal  to  learn  from  the  facts  of 
archaeological  research  and  its  living  objects  of  stone,  clav  or  metal 
which  are  harder  than  any  paper-transmitted  evidence.  In  the  light 
of  revived  antiquity,  we  shall  learn  better  to  understand  and  appreciate 
the  ancient  Rituals  in  particular.  If  I am  obliged,  most  reluctantly, 
to  deviate  from  such  authorities  as  Biot,  Lcgge  and  Couv’reur,  I beg 
my  critics  not  to  interpret  this  necessity  as  arrogance  or  a mania  for 

* I availed  myself  of  the  Palace  Edition  published  1748  by  order  of  the  Emperor 
K len-lung  m 182  Vols.  (John  Crerar  Library,  Nos.  213-215).  As  to  the  illustrations, 

1 did  not  always  quote  them  from  this  edition,  which  but  few  readers  may  have 
at  their  disposal,  but  rather  from  current  European  books  easily  accessible  to  everv 
one. 

“ See  Bibliography  at  end. 


i6 


Introduction. 


knowing  better  on  my  part,  but  as  a suggestion  intimated  by  a con- 
sideration of  the  new  material  here  offered.  This  advance  in  our 
knowledge  is  not  my  merit,  but  merely  the  consequence  of  favorable 
opportunities  granted  me  by  a fortunate  chance.  I cannot  dwell  here 
on  a literary  discussion  of  the  three  Rituals.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  Chou  li  was  not  put  together  until  under  the  Han  dynasty;  never- 
theless, it  reflects  the  peculiar  culture  of  the  Chou  period  in  such  a 
complete  and  systematic  manner  as  could  have  only  been  written 
at  that  time.  It  is  a state  handbook  expounding  in  minutest  detail 
the  complex  organism  of  the  governmental  institutes  of  the  Chou 
emperors.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  book  has  been  touched  and 
worked  over,  perhaps  also  interpolated  as  the  Li  ki,  under  the  Han 
editorship;  but  substantially  and  virtually,  it  is  the  property  of  the 
Chou  time.*  The  Han  commentators  were  no  more  able  to  explain 
intelligently  many  passages  in  it,  as  the  culture  of  the  Chou  had  perished 
before  the  hatred  and  persecution  of  the  Ts'in,  and,  as  we  now  see  to 
our  great  surprise,  interpreted  quite  wrongly  most  of  the  ceremonial 
utensils  of  the  Chou,  which  were  no  longer  within  the  reach  of  their 
vision. 

Here  we  must  briefly  touch  one  of  the  curious  results  of  the  follow- 
ing investigation  which  will  interest  sinologues  and  archeologists 
alike.  It  seems  that  the  Chinese  commentators  attempted  to  render 
an  account  of  the  appearance  of  ceremonial  and  other  antiquarian 
objects  either  on  the  ground  of  oral  traditions,  or  from  hearsay,  or, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  on  reconstructions  evolved  from  their  own 
minds;  but  their  comments  are  not  based  on  a real  viewing  of  the 
objects  concerned.  This  state  of  affairs  is  easily  evidenced  in  general 
by  a glance  at  the  so-called  Illustrations  to  the  Rituals,  as  the  San  li  t'u 
of  Nieh  Tsung-i  of  the  Sung  period  (962  a.  d.),  or  the  illustrated  vol- 
umes of  the  K'ien-lung  edition,  which  pretend  to  picture  all  objects  of 
importance  mentioned  in  the  ancient  texts.  It  was  always  a source  of 
wonder  to  me  how  the  Chinese  got  hold  of  these  weak  drawings  which 
bear  the  indelible  stamp  of  unreality  and  depict  many  objects  as, 
e.  g.,  weapons,  carriages  and  houses,  in  a way  which  we  must  decry 
as  utterly  impossible  from  a purely  technical  viewpoint;  and  there 
is  likewise  reason  to  wonder  that  such  figures  could  find  their  way 
into  foreign  books  (Biot,  Pauthier,  Zottoli,  Legge,  Couvreur)  to  illus- 
trate ancient  Chinese  culture,  and  be  passed  as  the  real  thing  without 
a word  of  comment  or  criticism.  A comparison  of  these  reconstructive 
or  purely  imaginary  pictures  with  the  actual  specimens  of  the  Chou 

* Edkins’s  criticism  of  the  Chou  li  in  his  paper  Ancient  Navigation  in  the  Indian 
Ocean  {Journal  R.  Asiatic  Society,  V'ol.  XVIII,  p.  19)  deserves  special  attention. 


Introduction. 


17 


period  now  at  our  disposal  will  show  that,  in  the  plurality  of  cases, 
there  is  hardly  a shadow  of  resemblance  between  the  two.  Wu  Ta- 
ch'eng  has  taken  the  lead  in  this  new  field  of  research,  and  we  are 
indebted  to  him  for  the  restoration  of  the  truth  in  the  place  of  roman- 
ticism with  regard  to  archieological  objects  of  primary  importance. 
The  image  of  the  Deity  Earth  has  been  mistaken  for  the  part  of  a 
chariot  wheel-nave  which  never  existed  in  this  form,  while  the  former 
was  construed  in  the  shape  of  an  eight-pointed  star-figure,  going  back 
to  a misunderstanding  read  by  the  commentators  into  their  texts. 

The  most  instructive  examples  of  this  kind  are  the  kii  pi  and  p'u 
pi,  i.  e.  jade  disks  with  “grain”  and  “rush”  pattern. 

The  ancient  Chinese  texts  are  clad  in  a brief  and  laconic  style, 
never  wasting  a word  on  the  description  of  objects  then  known  to 
everybody.  They  simply  give  the  names  of  numerous  vases,  weapons, 
insignia,  etc.,  without  further  details,  so  that  there  is  plenty  of  room 
for  the  commentators  to  expand.  These  were  scholars  alien  to  the 
world,  of  versatile  intuition  perhaps,  but  lacking  in  the  knowledge 
and  observation  of  life  and  reality.  It  was  not  found  unrea.sonable 
to  answer  that  the  jade  disks  ku  had  a bunch  of  cereals,  and  those 
called  p'u  a design  of  rushes  engraved  on  them;  the  Sung  artists  ac- 
cepted this  comment,  and  quite  characteristic  of  the  pictorial  tendency 
of  their  time,  reconstructed  those  disks  by  drawings  with  realistic 
representations  of.  the  respective  jilants.  For  two  thousand  }^ears, 
the  Chinese  have  groped  absolutely  in  the  dark  as  regards  the  true 
nature  of  these  disks.  Now  we  know  that  such  designs  never  existed 
in  the  Chou  period,  that  the  disks  ku  were  covered  with  concentric 
rows  of  raised  dots,  an  ornament  called  “grain,”  and  that  the  disks 
p'u  were  decorated  \rith  a mat  impression  consisting  of  hexagons,  the 
pattern  receiving  its  name  from  a rush -mat.  This  and  many  other 
examples  revealed  on  the  pages  to  follow  will  furnish  much  food  for 
reflection. 

First,  in  regard  to  the  methods  of  the  archaxilogist.  A net  distinc- 
tion should  always  be  made  between  the  wording  of  the  ancient  texts 
and  the  additional  utterances  of  commentatorial  \risdom.  The  com- 
mentators, very  often,  may  certainly  be  right  and  reasonable,  but 
should  be  held  up  as  suspects  under  all  circumstances  and  acquitted 
only  on  close  trial.  Their  thoughts  are  usually  afterthoughts,  re- 
flections, adjustments,  compromises,  evasions.  It  all  depends  upon 
the  length  of  time  by  which  the  editor  is  separated  from  the  time  of 
the  original.  The  singular  world  of  the  Chou  was  shattered  in  the 
period  of  the  Han,  and  the  Han  scholars  knew  little  in  fact  about 
that  bygone  age.  Chinese  later  illustrations  to  the  classics  can  be 


i8 


Introduction. 


consulted  and  utilized  only  after  a most  painful  scrutiny  of  the  subject 
in  question,  and  in  almost  all  cases,  they  will  then  be  found  worthless 
because  fanciful.  The  sinologue  is  confronted  with  this  problem, — 
is  the  Chinese  language  really  that  clear  and  logical  structure  such 
as  has  been  given  out  by  a certain  school  of  philologists,  if  the  Chinese 
themselves,  and  even  their  best  scholars  of  the  remote  Han  period, 
were  liable  to  misunderstand  their  ancient  classical  texts  step  for 
step?  And  what  is  the  cause  for  these  misunderstandings?  To  one 
initiated  into  the  ethnological  mode  of  thinking,  it  is  not  far  to  seek. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  unjust  to  brand  the  Chinese  unth  special  reproach 
in  this  matter,  and  to  expose  their  working-methods  to  unfair  reflec- 
tions. 

What  developed  in  China  along  this  line,  is  a subconscious  factor 
which  has  dominated  the  cultural  life  of  all  peoples  of  the  globe  from 
the  dim  beginnings  of  mankind  until  the  present  day.  It  is  the  pre- 
vailing tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  account  for  the  reason  of 
existing  customs  and  traditions,  and  to  seek,  with  the  advance  of 
individual  conscious  reasoning,  for  rational  e.xplanations  of  phenomena 
purely  emotional  and  ethnical  at  the  outset.  This  method  results 
in  a new  association  of  ideas  which  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
origin  of  the  notion  in  question,  and  may  be  the  outcome  of  pure 
speculation.  In  China,  where  the  bent  to  systematizing  speculation 
was  always  strong  in  the  minds  of  individual  thinkers,  the  effects  of 
this  mental  process  come  more  intensely  to  the  surface  than  in  smaller 
communities  more  strongly  tied  by  a uniformity  of  tribal  thoughts, 
and  for  this  reason,  the  Chinese  offer  the  best  imaginable  material  for 
a study  of  the  psychological  foundations  of  ethnical  phenomena. 

The  errors  in  the  interpretation  of  ancient  customs  and  notions 
committed  by  Chinese  commentators  and  editors,  their  failures  in 
their  attempts  at  a reconstruction  of  the  jiast,  and  their  positive  pro- 
duetions  of  newly  formed  ancient  artistic  designs,  never  existing  in 
times  of  antiquity,  are  not  logical  blunders  to  be  imputed  to  their 
intellectual  frame,  but  emanations  of  their  psyehical  constitution 
evolved  from  a new  process  of  association.  The  problem  moves  on 
purely  psychological,  not  on  mental  lines.  To  revert  to  our  above 
example, — the  trend  of  thought  in  the  Chou  time  was  sx-mbolic, 
swayed  by  impressions  and  sentiments  received  from  celestial  and 
cosmical  aspects  of  the  universe,  and  strove  for  expression  in  geo- 
metrical representations,  so  much  so  that  the  singular  art  of  the  Chou 
cannot  be  better  characterized  than  by  the  two  words  symbolie  and 
geometric,  or,  as  geometric  s>Tnbolism.  Round  raised  dots  or  knobs 
were  suggestive,  on  m.ere  emotional  grounds,  of  a heap  of  grain-seeds. 


Introduction. 


19 

This  mode  of  observation  became  foreign  to  subsequent  generations 
who,  reflecting  upon  the  peculiar  traits  of  the  Chou  culture,  could 
but  realize  that  a real  representation  of  grain  in  the  manner  of  a living 
plant  was  intended.  The  Sung  artists  with  their  inspirations  for 
naturalistic  designs  took  possession  of  this  notion  and  instilled  it  with 
life  by  sketching  it  on  paper.  Thus,  they  transformed  a rational 
reflection  by  mere  intuition  into  a permanent  motive  of  art  promul- 
gated as  the  production  of  the  Chou  period. 

This  case  is  by  no  means  unique,  but  it  is  due  to  such  misinterpreta- 
tions, reflections  and  afterthoughts  that  many  hundreds  of  artistic 
motives  (and  certainly  not  only  these,  but  also  customs,  habits,  tradi- 
tions, social  conventions,  moral  principles,  etc.)  have  ari.sen  everv^vhere 
among  mankind.  But,  whereas  in  other  cultures  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  unravel  the  mystery  of  this  development,  the  long  history  of 
China  and  the  vast  stores  of  her  literary  and  artistic  wealth  will  often 
allow  us  to  peep  behind  the  stage,  and  to  grasp  the  human  and  psychic 
force  of  such  transformations  of  thought.  It  must  therefore  remain 
one  of  our  principal  endeavors,  in  the  treatment  of  Chinese  archa?- 
ological  subjects,  to  penetrate  into  the  psychical  basis  of  motives, — 
not  only  because  this  procedure  will  simultaneously  furnish  most 
valuable  contributions  to  the  psychology  of  the  Chinese,  which  is 
much  needed,  but  also  in  order  to  attain  to  a correct  understanding  of 
the  history  of  the  motive  itself,  since  otherwise  our  knowledge  would 
be  an  utter  fallacy  and  self-deception. 

We  must  grasp  the  nature-loving  spirit  of  the  impressionistic  Sung 
artists  to  appreciate  their  very  neat  naturalistic  designs  of  cereals  and 
rushes  on  the  Chou  disks  of  jade.  And  we  must  understand,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  complex  organism  of  the  world  and  life  conception  of 
the  Chou  period,  which  is  quite  a distinct  and  peculiar  China  in  itself, 
to  be  prompted  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Chou  design  proposed  by 
the  intuition  of  the  Sung  artists  cannot  possibly  have  been  an  inherit- 
ance of  the  Chou.  Then  we  must  realize  how  the  gigantic  power  of 
the  superman  Ts'in  Shih  Huang-ti  had  broken  the  ritualistic  culture 
of  the  Chou,  how  a few  remains  and  ruins  of  it  only  were  exhumed  and 
aired  again  by  the  revival  activity  of  the  Han,  a movement  of  great 
earnestness  and  deep  honesty  of  intention.  Thus,  we  gain  a basis 
for  a judgment  of  the  thinking  and  doings  of  the  Ilan  and  later  com- 
mentators, on  whose  shoulders  the  art -historians,  art-critics  and 
compilers  of  art-catalogues  of  the  Sung  period  stand. 

By  thus  joining  link  for  link  in  this  long  chain  and  carefully  listen- 
ing to  each  tradition,  we  may  Anally  hope  to  learn  something  of  the 
development  of  Chinese  ideas  and  art.  Certainly,  if  handled  by  this 


20 


Introduction. 


analytic  method,  Chinese  archaeology  and  art-histor\'  is  not  so  easy 
as  it  may  appear  to  the  outsider  from  some  popular  books  and  light 
essays  to  which  the  jeublic  has  been  treated  in  recent  years  by  authors 
who,  light-minded,  take  everything  in  a storm,  because  they  are  unable 
to  recognize  the  complexity  and  weight  of  a problem.  “To  sit  on 
the  bottom  of  a well,  and  to  say  that  Heaven  is  small,”  curtly  remarks 
a Chinese  proverb.  1 utterly  fail  to  see  of  what  avail  it  is  to  us  to 
build  the  roof  before  the  ground-pillars,  of  what  advantage  all  these 
discussions  on  subjective  evolutions  of  motives,  on  analysis  of  style 
and  esthetics  of  Chinese  art  will  be  in  the  long  run,  as  long  as  we  do 
not  know  the  solid  basis,  the  meaning  and  history  of  these  motives, 
and  as  long  as  such  phantoms  will  be  easily  destroyed  by  every  serious 
investigation.  For  certainly  not  by  intuition  or  opinions  derived 
from  a general  or  vague  knowledge  of  art  can  we  hope  to  reach  the  goal, 
but  only  by  the  most  absorbed  method  of  research  consulting  the  views, 
traditions  and  sentiments  of  those  people  who  created  the  monuments 
which  we  desire  to  understand. 

First  of  all,  we  must  understand  the  works  of  Chinese  art,  before 
we  can  judge  them,  and  that  is  the  most  difficult  side  of  the  question. 
Certainly,  I am  not  an  advocate  of  seclusion  or  monopolization.  A 
sound  open-door  policy  in  this  field  carried  out  in  a fair-minded  spirit 
of  svTnpathetic  cooperation  would  be  a desirable  and  refreshing  pro- 
gram which  may  lead  to  fruitful  results.  The  field  is  new  and  wide, 
and  there  is  room  for  many  platforms.  A sane  and  whole-hearted 
exposition  of  any  Chinese  subject  through  an  experienced  art-student 
will  always  be  welcome;  a fair  and  impartial  criticism  or  suggestion 
of  an  outsider  or  newcomer  to  this  branch  of  science  may  prove  as  a 
stimulus  to  greater  efforts'.  We  are  all  inquirers  and  seekers  for  the 
truth,  and  everybody  has  to  learn,  and  everybody  is  liable  to  commit 
errors  where  the  field  is  virgin.  But  dictatorial  positiveness  of  judg- 
ment based  on  insufficient  material  and  facts  is  surely  detrimental 
to  the  good  cause. 

In  this  paper,  antique  objects  of  jade  are  dealt  with  in  so  far  as 
they  are  living  realities,  being  represented  by  palpable  specimens  in 
Chinese  collections  or  in  our  own.  Numerous  jade  objects  are  men- 
tioned in  the  ancient  texts,  none  of  which,  however,  have  survived. 
These  should  be  taken  up,  whenever  necessity  arises  and  such  objects 
will  actually  be  discovered.  Thus,  we  hear  e.  g.  of  jade  and  other 
stone  mirrors'  and  screens,  and  even  of  jade  sffioes  discovered  in  ancient 

* Stone  mirrors  were  known  in  ancient  Peru,  but  no  specimen  exists  in  any 
museum.  In  Yl  an  y Ullo.\’s  Voyages  (Vol.  I,  p.  482)  the  following  is  on  record: 
“Stone  mirrors  are  of  two  sorts.  C)ne  of  the  ‘ Ynca  stone,’  the  other  of  the  gallinazo 
stone.  The  former  is  not  transparent,  of  a lead  color,  but  soft.  They  are  generally 


Introduction.  21 

graves;  but  no  such  specimens  have  been  preserved  in  any  Chinese 
collections. 

Si.^o  Tse-hien,  the,  author  of  the  Xan  Ts'i  shu  (“Annals  of  the 
Southern  Ts'i  dynasty”)  narrates  that  in  Siang-yang  (Hupeh  Province) 
brigands  opened  an  ancient  tumulus  which  according  to  tradition  was 
that  of  Chao,  king  of  Ch'u  (b.  c.  515-489);  in  the  tomb  were  buried 
footgear  of  jade  {yii  li)  and  a screen  of  jade  {yii  p'ing-feng),  the  latter 
being  very  curious.  In  another  report  it  is  remarked  that  these  jade 
shoes  were  the  jade  clogs  of  eunuchs  {kung  jen  yii  ki),  and  another 
tradition  in  the  Ts'i  ch'un  ts'iu  (“Spring  and  Autumn  Annals  of  Ts'i”) 
has  it  that  people  of  Siang-yang  opened  an  ancient  tumulus,  in  which 
there  was  a jade  mirror  and  ancient  records  written  on  bamboo  tablets, 
the  characters  of  which  could  not  be  deciphered;  only  the  Buddhist 
monk  K'ien  Shan  could  read  them,  and  it  is  supposed  that  this  grave 
is  identical  wdth  the  one  mentioned  in  the  “Annals  of  the  Ts'i  dynasty.”* 
The  rifling  of  this  tomb  may  be  referred  to  the  year  479  a.  d.- 

There  arc  also  reports  on  the  discovery  of  cuspidors  of  jade,  one  of 
which  was  found  with  two  bronze  swords  and  sundry  articles  of  gold 
and  jade  in  the  grave  of  Siang,  king  of  Wei  (b.  c.  334-286).^  Of  the 
interesting  jade  casks  buried  with  the  corpse  in  the  Han  i)criod^  to 
guard  the  flesh  against  decay,  none  has  as  yet  come  to  light,  unfortu- 
nately, and  there  are  numberless  other  types  of  burial  jades  of  which 

of  a circular  form  and  one  of  the  surfaces  flat  with  all  the  smoothness  of  a crystal 
looking  glass.  The  other  oval  and  something  spherical,  and  the  polish  not  so  fine. 
They  are  of  various  sizes,  but  generally  3 or  4 inches  in  diameter;  though  I saw  one 
a foot  and  a half.  Its  principal  surface  was  concave  and  greatly  enlarged  objects, 
nor  could  its  polish  be  exceeded  by  the  best  workman  among  us.  The  gallinazo 
stone  [obsidian?]  is  very  hard,  brittle  as  flint  and  black  color." — Copper  mirrors 
were  also  used,  as  reported  by  Garcilasso  de  Vega,  Royal  Commentaries  of  Peru 
(Book  II,  Ch.  XVI,  1688,  translated  by  P.  Rycaut).  “The  looking-glasses  which 
the  ladies  of  quality  used  were  made  of  burnished  copper;  but  the  men  never  used 
any,  for  that  being  esteemed  a part  of  effeminacy,  was  also  a disgrace  if  not  ignominy 
to  them.” 

* Ts'i  kuo  k'ao,  Ch.  8,  pp.  7b,  8a,  loa.  — The  Ts'i  kuo  k'ao  “Investigations  into 
the  Seven  States”  (which  are  Ts'in,  Ts'i,  Ch'u,  Chao,  Han,  Wei  and  Yen)  was 
compiled  by  Tung  Shuo  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  in  fourteen  chapters.  Reprinted 
in  Vols.  40-41  of  the  Collection  Shou  shan  ko  ts'ung  shu.  It  contains  extracts  and 
notes  of  culture-historical  interest  regarding  these  seven  feudal  principalities.  — 
Compare  on  the  above  passage  also  Hirth,  Chinese  Metallic  Mirrors  {Boas  Anni- 
versary Volume,  p.  216),  and,  in  regard  to  another  case  of  the  burial  of  jade  mirrors, 
De  Groot,  The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  II,  p.  414. 

^ Compare  A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Tch'ou,  p.  280  (Shanghai,  1903). 

“ De  Groot,  The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  II.  p.  397. 

* They  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Annals  of  the  Han  Dynasty.  L(J  Pu- 
WEi,  who  died  in  B.  c.  235,  reports  in  his  book  Lii-shih  Ch'un  Ts'iu;  “Pearls  are 
placed  in  the  mouth  of  the  dead,  and  fish-scales  are  added;  these  are  now  utilized 
for  interment  with  the  dead.”  The  Commentary  to  this  passage  remarks;  “To 
place  pearls  in  the  mouth  of  the  dead  {han  chu)  means,  to  fill  the  mouth  with  them; 
the  addition  of  fish-scales  means,  to  enclose  these  in  a jade  casket  which  is  placed 
on  the  body  of  the  deceased,  as  if  it  should  be  covered  with  fish-scales.” 


22 


Introduction. 


we  can  fonn  no  clear  idea.  In  Chinese  antiquarian  studies,  we  must 
always  be  mindful  of  the  incompleteness  and  deficiency  of  material. 
Only  stray  fragments  and  heaps  of  ruins  have  been  transmitted,  while 
the  best  and  most  glorious  monuments  of  the  ancient  civilization  have 
become  the  prey  of  natural  decay  or  wilful  destruction.  What  is 
preserv^ed  is  a trifle  compared  with  what  is  gone.  The  losses  are  im- 
mense and  irreparable,  and  no  Varus  will  ever  return  us  these  legions. 
This  consideration  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  to  guard  us  against 
premature  conclusions  and  hasty  combinations.  Only  the  most 
extensive  scries  of  types  covering  wide  local  and  temporal  areas  will 
allow  us  to  reach  a fairly  satisfactory  result,  and  even  then  reservations 
must  be  made  and  judgment  restricted  in  view  of  the  thousands  of 
gaps  sadly  existing  in  our  knowledge.  At  the  best,  we  may  hope  in 
the  end  for  a reconstruction  of  the  ancient  culture-life,  as  we  may  piece 
together  and  sup]dcment  a jar  in  shreds;  sound  skepticism  will  keep 
from  joining  the  fragments  wrongly. 

The  word  yii  “jade”  most  frequently  occurs  in  the  oldest  texts 
and  is  said  to  have  been  known  to  the  legendary  Emperor  Huang-ti 
(alleged  B.  c.  2704).^  The  Chinese  word  is  just  as  general  and  com- 
prehensive as  our  word  “jade,”  which  may.  therefore  be  freely  used  as 
its  equivalent,  and  includes  nephrite,  jadeite,  bowenite,  sometimes 
also  in  ancient  pieces  special  beautiful  kinds  of  serpentine,  agalmatolite 
and  marble.^  In  the  times  of  antiquity,  the  number  of  species  and 
varieties  called  yii  was  doubtless  much  greater  than  at  the  present 
time,  as  we  see  from  a series  of  manifold  names  occurring  in  the 
oldest  texts  {Shi  king  and  Shu  king),  many  of  which  remain  unex- 
plained. Li  Shih-chen,  the  great  Chinese  naturalist  of  the  sixteenth 
eentury,  recognizes  fourteen  varieties  of  jade,  most  of  them  being  dis- 
tinguished from  their  colors  and  localities.  At  present,  it  is  only 
nephrite  and  jadeite  that  is  acknowledged  as  true  jade  by  the  Chine.se, 
all  other  stones  receiving  special  names. 

> Hirth,  The  Ancient  History  of  China,  pp.  13,  91. 

* It  is  not  correct,  as  Willi.wis  (The  Middle  Kingdom.  Vol.  I,  p.  3<k;) 
remarks,  that  white  marble,  ruby,  and  cornelian  all  come  under  it.  Jade  is,  as 
the  Chinese  say,  a species  in  itself;  also  agate  is  considered  as  sni  generis.  — It  is 
well  known  that  our  word  jade  is  derived  from  Spanish  piedra  de  hijada,  “stone  of 
the  loin,”  because  the  stone  was  supposed  to  cure  pain  in  the  loin.  Another  etymol- 
ogy is  offered  by  F.  Gren.\rd  (Mission  scientifique  dans  la  Haute  Asie,  Vol.  II, 
p.  188)  who  proposes  to  derive  the  word  from  Turkish  yada-tchi,  “a  sorcerer  who  is 
able  to  produce  rain  and  fine  weather  by  means  of  a magical  stone.”  Yada  is  the 
name  of  this  stone  (W.  R.\dloff,  Worterbuch  der  Turk-Dialekte,  Vol.  HI,  Col.  207, 
210).  It  is  impossible  for  two  reasons  to  accept,  Grenard’s  suggestion.  First, 
there  is  no  evidence  for  the  word  yada  to  denote  jade  or  exclusively  jade,  the  proper 
Turkish  designation  of  which  is  kash  (Radloff,  Vol.  II.  Col.  389).  Secondly,  our 
word  jade  is  &it  a recent  introduction  first  brought  to  England  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
(1552-1618)  who  always  uses  the  Spanish  name  for  the  stone  in  his  books;  the  word 
does  not  appear  in  our  literature  before  this  time,  as  we  should  expect,  if  Grenard's 
surmise  were  correct. 


Introduction. 


23 

W hile  from  about  the  Christian  era  Turkistan  became  the  chief 
source  for  the  supply  of  jade  to  China,  to  which  Yunnan  and  Bunna 
were  later  added,  neither  Turkistan  nor  Yunnan  come  into  question 
in  very  early  times.  The  jades  used  in  the  period  of  the  Chou,  and 
most  of  those  of  the  Han  dynasty,  were  quarried  on  the  very  soil  of 
China  proper,  as  we  know  from  the  accounts  of  the  Chinese’,  and  as 
we  can  still  ascertain  from  the  W'orked  jade  pieces  of  those  periods 
which  in  quality  and  color  are  wddely  different  from  anv  produced  in 
Turkistan  and  Burma.  In  Bishop’s  w'ork  (Vol.  I,  p.  ”9)  it  is  said: 
Jade  has  not  yet  actually  been  seen  in  situ  by  any  competent  observer 
m any  of  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China  proper,  and  it  is  permissible, 
meanwhile,  to  doubt  its  occurrence  and  to  await  more  certain  evidence. 
The  interior  of  China  is  almost  unexplored  from  a geological  or  mineral - 
ogical  point  of  view\  . . . There  may  have  been  ancient  quarries 
which  have  long  since  been  exhausted ; the  material  of  some  of  the  older 
car\  ed  pieces  is  certainly  different  in  many  respects  from  anything 
produced  now',  and  seems  to  point  to  lost  sources  of  supply.”  This 
supposition  is  quite  correct  and  is  confirmed  by  the  results  of  many 
inquiries  which  I had  occasion  to  make  at  several  times  in  Si-ngan  fu 
and  other  places  of  Shensi  Province:  all  Chinese  questioned  by  me, 
experts  in  antiquarian  matters,  agree  in  stating  that  the  jades  of  the 
Chou  and  Han  dynasties  are  made  of  indigenous  material  onee  dug 
on  the  very  soil  of  Shensi  Province,  that  these  quarries  have  been 
long  ago  exhausted,  no  jade  w'hatever  being  found  there  nowadavs. 
My  informants  pointed  to  Lan-t'ien  and  Feng-siang  fu  as  the  chief 
ancient  mines. 

As  early  as  in  the  Shu  king  (Tribute  of  Yii,  19)  and  in  the  geography 
of  the  Chou  li,  a trade  is  mentioned  consisting  of  jade  and  other  minerals 
in  the  territory  of  Yung-chou  comprising  the  northern  part  of  the 
present  province  of  Shensi  betw’een  the  river  Wei  in  the  south  and  the 
Ordos  region  in  the  north  (Hirth,  /.  c.,  p.  122).  As  w'e  now'  have  an 
opportunity  of  studring  a great  number  of  ancient  Chou  and  Han 
specimens  of  jade  in  the  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Blackstone  collections,  we 
may  now'  establish  the  fact  w'ith  a high  degree  of  certainty  that  the 
Chou  jades  w'ithout  exception,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Han  jades, 
are  made  of  indigenous  material,  quarried  on  the  domain  of  the  earliest 
settlements  of  the  Chinese  which  they  had  naturally  w'cll  explored. 
This  conviction  agrees  very  well  with  the  traditions  of  the  Chinese,  as 
w’e  shall  see  presently.  It  requires  but  little  experience  and  routine 
w'ork  along  these  lines  to  distinguish  these  ancient  jades  with  their 
salient  characteristics  of  structure  and  color,  and  their  additional 
historic  qualities  acquired  in  the  graves,  from  the  Turkistan  and 


24 


Introduction. 


Bumiese  nephrites  and  jadeites.  Their  appearance  will  be  described 
in  the  following  chapters.  It  was  doubtless  the  Chinese  themselves 
who,  being  acquainted  with  jade  in  their  country,  probably  for  mil- 
lenniums, gave  the  impetus  to  the  jade  fishing  and  mining  industries  of 
Turkistan.  Also  this  case  may  throw  a side-light  on  the  nephrite 
question  of  Europe;  home-sources  do  not  exclude  imports,  and  scarcity 
or  exhaustion  of  sources  may  favor  them. 

The  mountains  south  of  Si-ngan  fu  in  Shensi  Province  produced 
jade,  gold,  silver,  copper  and  iron  in  the  first  century  b.  c.,  as  expressly 
stated  in  the  “Annals  of  the  Former  Han  Dynasty”  {Ts'ien  Ilan  shu) 
under  the  reign  of  Wu-ti;  it  is  mentioned  also  in  the  “Biography  of 
Tung-fang  So”  (see  Ta  Ts'ing  i I'ung  chi,  Ch.  i8i,  p.  14  b).  The  jade 
of  Lan-t'ien^  enjoyed  a special  reputation.  The  distinguished  physician 
T'ao  Hung-king  (452-536  A.  D.),  the  author  of  a treatise  on  Materia 
medica  {Ming  i pick  lu),  states  that  the  best  jade  comes  from  that 
locality;  he  mentions  also  the  occurrence  of  jade  in  Nan-yang,  Honan 
Province,  and  in  the  Lu-jung  River  of  Tonking,^  also  that  brought 
from  Khotan  and  Kashgar;  if  translucent  and  white  as  hog’s  lard,  and 
resonant  when  struck,  it  is  genuine.  In  the  elev'enth  century,  however, 
it  is  positively  asserted  by  Su  Sung,  an  able  student  of  natural  science, 
that  in  his  time  no  more  jade  was  quarried  in  those  home  quarters  nor 
in  Tonking,  and  that  it  was  only  found  in  Khotan.  His  lifetime  may 
therefore  be  regarded  as  the  date  when  the  native  output  of  the  mineral 
had  come  to  an  end.  The  high  value  of  the  ancient  jades  is,  con- 
sequently, enhanced  considerably  by  their  material  no  longer  existing 
or  being  found  in  its  natural  state. 

There  are  indications  that,  aside  from  the  Province  of  Shensi, 
other  localities  of  jade  may  have  existed  or  may  still  exist  in  China. 
Mr.  Bishop  (Vol.  I,  p.  9)  mentions  four  pebbles  procured  in  Shanghai 
from  a J^Iohammedan  dealer  in  stones,  who  said  that  they  were  found 
in  the  bed  of  the  Liu-yang  River  in  Hunan  Province,  and  which  are 
of  interest,  as  he  says,  as  suggestive  of  another  jade  locality  in  China 
proper. 

The  Chinese  “Gazetteer  of  Sze-ch'uan  Province”  {Sze  ch'iian 

* Lan-fica,  “the  Blue  Field,”  received  its  name  from  the  jade  quarries,  as 
expressly  stated  in  the  Chronicle  of  the  place  {Lan-t'ien  hien  chi,  Ch.  6,  p.  17,  edition 
of  1875).  According  to  T'ao  Hung-king,  it  produced  white  and  green  jade.  The 
"Jade  Mountain”  {Yii  shan)  was  situated  43  It  south-east  of  the  town.  As  an 
analogy  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  jade  mines,  the  Chronicle  quotes  the  fact  that  in 
former  times  also  silver  ore  (according  to  the  IVei  shu),  as  well  as  copper  and  iron 
were  exploited  there,  all  of  which  no  longer  occur.  An  exploration  of  this  site  may 
be  recommended  to  our  geographers. 

^ According  to  the  Chinese  description  of  Annam,  jadeite  (fei  ts'ui,  Devdria's 
translation  jade  serpentine  is  not  to  the  point)  is  a production  of  that  country 
(G.  Dev£ria,  Histoire  des  Relations  de  la  Chine  avec  I’Annam,  p.  88,  Paris.  1880). 


Introduction. 


25 


t'ung  chi,  Ch.  74,  p.  43)  mentions  a “white  jade-stone  {pai  yii  shih) 
resembling  jade”  produced  in  the  district  of  Wen-shan  in  Mou-chou; 
the  natives  avail  themselves  of  it  to  make  implements.  A variety  of 
green  jade  called  pi  (Giles  No.  qooq)  from  which  arrow-heads  can  be 
made  is  ascribed  to  the  district  of  Hui-wu  or  Hui-li  in  Ning-yiian  fu 
{Ibid.,  p.  24,  and  Shu  tien,  Ch.  8,  p.  5).  The  latter  work  on  Sze-ch'uan 
(vritten  by  Chang  Chu-pien  in  1818,  reprinted  1876)  makes  mention 
also  of  “black  jade”  {hei  yii)  after  the  cyclopaedia  T'ai  p'ing  yii  Ian; 
its  color  is  black  like  lacquer,  and  it  hence  receives  also  the  name  “ink 
jade  ” {mo  yiiY  and  ranks  low  in  price.  It  occurs  in  western  vSze-ch'uan 
and  is  identical  with  the  jet  or  gagate  now  produced  in  the  district  of 
Kung  (in  Sii-chou  fu) , out  of  which  implements  arc  carved.  It  certainly 
remains  doubtful  whether  these  stones  represent  real  jades,  as  long  as 
there  is  no  opportunity  for  identifying  specimens  of  them.  According 
to  the  “Description”  or  “Gazetteer  of  Kansu  Province (Ch.  20, 
p.  7 b),  jade  is  obtained  from  the  river  Hung  shui  pa^  in  Su  chou.  The 
geographical  work  Iliian  yii  ki,  ixiblished  by  Lo  Shi  between  976  and 
983  A.  D.,  mentions  a kind  of  “brilliant  jade”  {ming  yii)  occurring  in 
Kuang-chou,  Ju-ning  fu,  Honan  Province.  In  Nan-yang  Prefecture 
of  the  same  ]irovince,  jade  may  have  been  dug  from  the  fifth  -to  the 
eleventh  century  a.  d.,  as  we  noticed  before. 

Chinese  sources  refer  to  the  production  of  jade  in  the  prefecture 
of  Kuei-lin,  Kuang-si  Province  (G.  Deveria,  Histoire  des  Relations  de 
la  Chine  avec  I’Annam,  p.  95,  Paris,  1880).  But  this  remains  some- 
what doubtful,  as  the  designation  in  this  case  is  yii  shih,  “jade-stone” 
(instead  of  yii)  which  may  refer  and  usually  refers  to  only  jade-like 
stones. 

Jade  seems  to  have  reached  China  also  from  the  kingdom  of  the 
Caliphs.  It  is  reported  under  the  year  716  a.  d.  that  the  Emir  Sulei- 
man, who  died  in  717,  sent  an  ambassador  to  China  to  present  a robe 
woven  of  gold  threads  (brocade)  and  a flask  of  jade  ornamented  with 
jewels;  the  flask  is  called  sha-ch'ih  (or  sha-ti),  an  inexplicable  term 
(CiiAVANNES  in  T'oung  Pao,  1904,  p.  32).  A Chinese  envoy  who  visited 
Bagdad  in  1259  reports  that  the  jialace  of  the  Caliph  was  built  of 
fragrant  and  precious  woods,  and  that  its  walls  were  constructed  of 
black  and  white  jade  (Bretschneider,  Chinese  Recorder,  Vol.  VI, 
1875.  P-  5)- 

1 In  Japanese  boku-giyoku=)et  (Geerts,  p.  234). 

-Kan-su  t'ung  chi,  last  edition  published  in  1736.  When  passing  through  the 
capital  of  the  province,  Lan-chou,  in  January,  1909,  I was  informed  that  a new, 
revised  and  largely  increased  edition  of  this  now  scarce  work  was  in  course  of  prepa- 
ration and  was  expected  to  be  ready  at  the  end  of  the  summer  of  the  same  year. 

^ “The  Embankment  of  the  Red  Water.” 


26 


Introduction. 


The  Jesuit  missionaries  of  the  eighteenth  century  seem  to  have 
been  under  the  impression  that  jade  was  produced  in  the  provinces 
of  Shensi  and  Shansi  (see  Amiot  in  Memoires  concernant  les  Chinois, 
Vol.  VI,  p.  258).  Father  Du  Halde  (A  Description  of  the  Empire  of 
China,  Vol.  I,  p.  16,  London,  1738)  sums  up  as  follows:  “The  Lapis 
Armenus  [his  designation  of  jade]  is  not  very  dear  in  Yiin-nan,*  where 
it  is  found  in  several  places,  differing  in  nothing  from  what  is  imported 
into  Europe.  ’Tis  produced  also  in  the  Province  of  Sze-ch'uan,  and 
in  the  district  of  Ta-t'ung  fu,  belonging  to  vShansi,  which  furnishes 
perhaps  the  most  beautiful  Yii-she  (jade)  in  all  China;  ’tis  a kind  of 
white  Jasper,  the  white  resembling  that  of  A gal;  ’tis  transparent,  and 
sometimes  spotted  when  it  is  polished.” 

The  city  of  Si-ngan  fu  is  still  the  distributing  centre  for  the  un- 
wrought pieces  of  jade  arriving  from  Turkistan,  and  seems  to  have  been 
so  also  in  former  times.  Particularly  fine  bowlders  are  sometimes 
kept  and  guarded  as  treasures.  The  bowlder  of  whitish  jade  reproduced 
in  Fig.  2 on  Plate  I was  preserv^ed  as  a precious  relic  in  the  Buddhist 
temple  Iling-lung  se  of  Si-ngan  fu,  where  I acquired  it  for  the  Field 
Museum.  I was  informed  there  that  it  had  come  from  Khotan,  Turk- 
istan, a long  time  ago.  It  measures  19.5  cm  in  length,  10.5  cm  in 
width  and  14.1  cm  in  height,  and  has  a weight  of  eleven  pounds. 

The  other  water-rolled  bowlder  of  natural  polish  in  Fig.  i of  the 
same  Plate  was  found  in  a dried-up  river  bed  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
province  of  Shensi  and  represents,  also  in  the  opinion  of  the  Chinese, 
a kind  of  jade  used  during  the  Han  period.  The  correctness  of  this 
statement  is  borne  out  bj^  worked  jade  pieces  of  the  Han  period  in  our 
collection,  exhibiting  the  same  material.  It  is  a bluish-green  jade 
clouded  with  white  and  leaf-green  speckles  and  sprinkled  with  large 
brown  and  black  patches.  The  lower  side  is  almost  entirely  occupied 
by  an  ivory-white,  brown  and  russet  coloring  intersected  by  black 
strips  and  veins,  almost  producing  the  effect  of  an  agate.  This  piece 
weighs  somewhat  over  seven  pounds,  is  22.5  cm  long,  15  cm  wide  and 
5 cm  thick.  Such  bowlders  of  so-called  Han  jade  have  occasionally 
turned  up  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  were  then  worked  into  vases 
or  bells  or  other  objects.  We  shall  come  back  to  this  point  in  Chapter 
VIII. 

The  color  of  jade  was  found  to  be  permanent  and  unchangeable. 
The  Li  ki  {Yii  tsao  III,  32)  describing  the  qualities  of  a brave  soldier 

* .\ccording  to  Chinese  statements,  jade  is  found  in  Ch'Sng-kiang  fu  of  Yun-nan 
Province  (G.  I)EviRiA,  Histoire.des  Relations  de  la  Chine  avec  l’.-\nnam,  p.  91, 
Paris,  1880). 


I 


k 


explanation  of  Pl.  I. 

Fig.  I.  Water-rolled  Pebble  of  Jade  of  the  Han  Period. 
Fig.  2.  Bowlder  from  Khotan,  Turkistan. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X,  PL.  I. 


]\ 


Introduction. 


27 


says  of  his  countenance  that  it  is  always  the  same  as  jade.'  But  like' 
every  substance  in  nature,  jade  is  subject  to  discoloration  and  decom- 
position. This  effect  is  noticeable  particularly  in  the  ancient  burial 
pieces  of  the  Chou  and  Han  dynasties  which  have  sometimes  under- 
gone considerable  changes  during  their  subterranean  history  in  the 
grave,  and  softened  to  such  a degree  that  they  may  be  mistaken  for 
steatite. 

“The  Chinese  are  perfectly  familiar  with  the  disintegration  of  the 
surface  and  the  gradual  softening  and  decomposition  of  the  material 
which  occur  in  jade  long  buried  in  the  ground.  Jade  in  its  crudest 
state  always  contains  a greater  or  less  proportion  of  iron,  and  this, 
gradually  becoming  oxidized  by  process  of  time,  causes  staining  of  the 
surface,  the  color  of  the  stain  often  extending  inward,  especially  where 
there  happens  to  be  any  flaw  or  vein  in  the  material.  All  kinds  of 
variegated  ‘iron-rust’  tints  are  produced  in  this  way,  passing  from 
amber-yellow  to  the  deepest  brown,  and  sometimes  becoming  almost 
black”  (Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  232). 

A peculiar  characteristic  of  the  white  jades  of  the  Han  period  is 
that  sometimes  thick  masses  of  chalk-white  clayish  matter  permeate 
the  jade  substance.  The  Chinese  call  them  “earth  spots”  {t'u  pan) 
and  attribute  their  presence  to  mercury  absorbed  by  the  stone  while 
buried.  It  is  impossible  to  accejit  this  view,  as  the  clay  is  embodied 
under  the  polished  surface  and  must  have  been  present  there,  before 
the  piece  in  question  was  worked  and  polished.  But  apparently, 
these  stones  were  intentionally  cut  in  such  a way  that  the  clay  became 
visible  through  the  transparent  surface.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  Han 
people  may  have  evinced  a particular  predilection  for  this  natural 
phenomenon  which  usually  occurs  in  ornamental  pieces. 

The  character  of  the  following  research  is  such  that  one  investigation 
is  based  on  the  other,  and  that  the  single  chapters  are  mutually  de- 
pendent. Chapter  II  cannot  be  understood  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  first  chapter,  and  the  fundamental  religious  ideas  expounded  in 
Chapter  V have  their  basis  in  the  discussions  of  Chapter  II.  Again, 
Chapter  VIII  cannot  be  appreciated  without  an  insight  into  the  com- 
plex subjects  of  the  preceding  chapter,  as,  naturally,  the  ornaments 
of  the  dead  are  an  echo  of  those  of  the  living  ones.  In  the  culture  of 
the  Chou,  to  which  a great  and  indeed  the  principal  part  of  this  material 

* Legge  (Li  Ki,  Vol.  II,  p.  26)  translates:  “His  complexion  showed  (the  beauty 

and  strength  of)  a piece  of  jade,”  which  is  apparently  not  to  the  point;  the  tertium 
comparationis  is  the  unchangeability  of  the  color  of  jade  which  is  likened  to  the  firm 
and  steady  expression  of  the  soldier’s  face  (compare  Couvreur,  Li  Ki,  Vol.  I, 
p.  722). 


28 


Introduction. 


refers,  everything  is  system  and  consistent  systematization,  and  each 
object  and  the  idea  illustrated  by  it  must  be  perceived  in  close  relation 
to,  and  in  permanent  context  with,  the  entire  system  of  the  peculiar 
world-conception  of  that  period.  My  prospective  critics  will  doubtless 
appreciate  this  state  of  affairs  and  recognize  that  it  would  be  vain  to 
select  at  random  the  one  or  other  object  or  point  for  ready  attack,  if 
not  taken  up  and  properly  understood  in  connection  with  the  whole 
subject;  whoever  is  walling  to  further  these  studies,  must  consent,  I 
regret  to  say,  to  digest  first  this  material  in  its  entirety. 

The  following  pages  contain  only  a small  portion  of  my  notes  on 
jades.  It  would  have  been  easy  to  increase  them  to  double  and  more 
of  their  present  extent,  and  to  present  them  in  a more  readable  form, 
if  I had  the  privilege  of  the  leisure  of  an  author.  The  daily  demands 
made  by  the  immediate  task  of  cataloguing  and  installing  a large 
collection  are  not  favorable  to  literary  activity,  and  the  necessity  of 
w’orking  up  in  the  near  future  an  appalling  quantity  of  other  materials 
did  not  allow’  me  to  delve  in  this  particular  subject  with  that  copious- 
ness of  detail  w’hich  would  have  been  desirable.  Though  dealing  with 
polished  jade,  these  notes  w’ill  be  found  more  crude  than  polished, 
and  indeed  pretend  to  be  nothing  more  than  chips  and  .shavings  from 
a workshop.  May  others  take  up  and  pursue  the  threads  w’here  they 
dropped  from  my  hand. 


I.  JADE  AND  OTHER  STONE  IMPLEMENTS 


The  number  of  stone  implements  hitherto  discovered  on  Chinese 
soil  is  exceedingly  small,  a fact  to  be  accounted  for  in  several  ways. 
First  it  is  due  to  the  lack  of  systematic  archaeological  searchings  and 
excavations  on  sound  methods  handicapped  by  the  prejudices  of  the 
people ; secondly,  the  indifference  of  the  Chinese  towards  these  .seemingly 
trifling  objects  which  bear  no  inscriptions  and  therefore  offer  no  antiqua- 
rian interest  to  them.  While  they  have  delved  at  all  times  in  the  graves 
of  their  ancestors  to  their  hearts’  delight  to  revel  in  antiquities  of 
bronze,  jade,  or  pottery,  they  left  unnoticed  or  carelessly  threw  aside 
minor  objects  of  stone  and  bone  or  small  fragments  which  seem  to  us 
of  primary  scientific  importance.  A third  reason,  and  probably  the 
most  weighty  of  all,  will  be  found  in  the  fact  which  we  shall  establish 
in  the  course  of  this  investigation  that,  as  far  as  the  present  state  of 
our  archajological  knowledge  and  the  literary  records  point  out,  the 
Chinese  have  never  passed  through  an  epoch  which  for  other  culture- 
regions  has  been  designated  as  a stone  age. 

We  can  merely  assert  at  the  present  time  with  some  degree  of  cer- 
tainty that  at  some  remote  indefinable  period  stone  implements  have 
been  in  use  to  a certain  extent  within  the  boundaries  of  what  we  now 
call  the  Chinese  empire;  this  does  not  yet  mean  that  they  have  been 
manufactured  and  employed  by  Chinese  peoples  themsel\-es,  as  many 
other  groups  of  tribes  related  and  unrelated  to  the  Chinese  have  been 
inhabiting  the  empire.  It  is  therefore  safe  only  to  speak  of  stone 
implements  of  China,  whereas  it  is  not  warranted  to  speak  of  Chinese 
stone  implements.  The  evidence  for  such  stone  implements  is  furnished 
by  three  sources:  (i)  by  a number  of  actual  specimens  which  have  come 
down  to  us,  (2)  by  references  made  to  such  implements  in  Chinese 
records,  and  (3)  by  survivals  of  such  plain  implements  in  more  elaborate 
ceremonial  implements  of  later  ages  usually  made  of  jade,  or  of  other 
materials  like  copper  and  bronze.  We  shall  take  up  these  subjects 
gradatim.  Before  discussing  a considerable  amount  of  new  material 
here  published  for  the  first  time,  it  may  be  advisable  to  sum  up  briefly 
what  has  become  known  of  such  stone  implements  in  our  literature. 

On  April  30,  1884,  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian 
Society  contained  a paper  by  the  mineralogist  Heinrich  Fischer  in 
Freiburg  “On  Stone  Implements  in  Asia,”  in  which  a survey  of  stone 
implements  then  known  from  India,  China,  Siberia  and  Japan  is  given. 

29 


30  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

“Of  Chinese  stone  celts  and  implements,”  remarks  the  author,  “very 
little  is  known.  Despite  a correspondence  extending  over  almost  the 
whole  of  Europe,  I was  able  to  discover  but  a single  specimen  which 
exists  in  the  j^rivate  museum  of  John  Evans  in  London.  It  is  described 
as  being  of  nephrite;  but  upon  an  examination  which  I made  of  it,  I 
think  I am  not  mistaken  in  determining  it  to  be  of  fibrolithe.  What 
claimed  my  attention,  was  its  edge,  which  did  not  bevel  gradually,  but 
was  straight,  and  which  circumstance  is  attributed  to  a continued 
sharpening  of  the  edge.” 

The  most  interesting  kind  of  objects  mentioned  by  Fischer  is  a 
group  of  stone  celts  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  London.  “ They 
are  said  to  be  made  of  jade;  their  mineralogical  diagnosis,  however,  is 
as  yet  not  definitely  secured.  They  show  colors  varying  from  a dark 
coffee-brown  to  a yellowish  green,  and  at  least  four  out  of  every  six 
are  remarkable  for  being  engraved  wth  antique  Chinese  characters, — 
the  names  of  their  former  possessors.  Their  Chinese  name  is  ‘yao-chan,’ 
medicine  spattles,  and  they  were  used  for  cutting  drugs.  They  are  of 
almost  quadrangular  shape,  ])crforated  near  their  bases  either  conically 
or  perpendicularly ; their  edges  run  jDartly  in  a straight  line  and  present 
sharp  angles;  where  they  are  crescent-shaped  the  angles  are  rounded. 
There  are  specimens  which  exhibit  different  colors,  as  a clear  whitish 
green  at  the  bases,  and  in  the  middle  a dark,  dirty  or  a black  green, 
and  others  present  a grayish  cloudy  basis  and  are  of  a coffee-brown 
color  in  the  middle.  In  this  connection  a question  arises,  which  has 
been  often  asked  but  has  not  yet  received  due  consideration,  viz.\  Has 
China  ever  been  explored  sufficiently  to  know  whether  she  had  a stone 
epoch?  And  if  she  had  not,  did  the  people  who  are  now  her  inhab- 
itants jjass  through  such  an  epoch  elsewhere,  from  which  we  should  be 
able  to  consider  the  specimens  just  described  as  possible  relics  brought 
by  them  as  .souvenirs  from  their  ancient  homes?” 

This  latter  question  of  Fischer  seems  superfluous;  for  the  specimens 
mentioned  by  him  have  partly  Chinese  characters  engraved  upon  them, 
which  is  sufficient  proof  for  assuming  that  they  originated  on  the  very 
soil  of  China  in  an  historical  period. 

John  Anderson  ^ is  supposed  by  mam'-  to  have  been  the  first  to 
discover  stone  implements  in  China.  But  his  material  is  open  to 
criticism,  and  it  is  questionable  whether  it  really  belongs  to  the  Chinese 
culture  area.  Noticing  a stone  implement  exposed  for  sale  on  a stall 
in  the  bazar  of  Momien,  Yim-nan  Province,  Anderson  purchased  it  for 
the  equivalent  of  a few  pence.  No  sooner  was  his  liking  for  such  objects 

* A Report  on  the  Expedition  to  Western  Yunan  via  Bhani6,  Calcutta,  1871, 
pp.  410  el  seq.:  The  Stone  Implements  of  Yunan  (i.  e.  Yun-nan),  with  five  plates. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 

known  than  he  wa.s  besieged  by  needy  persons  who  willingly  i)artcd 
with  them  for  sums  varying  in  value  from  four  to  eighteen  pence  each. 
After  his  first  investment,  specimens  to  the  number  of  about  a hundred 
and  fifty  were  procured  by  different  members  of  the  expedition  (Sladen, 
Bowers,  and  himself);  but  all  were  purchased,  none  being  discovered 
by  them.  Most  were  obtained  at  Momicn,  and  a few  in  the  Sanda 
valley.  He  was  informed  at  Momien  that  stone  implements  were  not 
unfrequently  turned  up  while  ploughing  the  fields,  and  that  they  were 
occasionally  found  lying  exposed  on  the  surface.  The  belief  prevails 
that  they  and  also  bronze  implements  are  thunderbolts,  which  after 
they  fall  and  penetrate  the  earth  take  nine  years  again  to  find  or  work 
their  way  up  to  the  surface.  “The  high  estimation  in  which  they  arc 
held,  both  in  Yiin-nan  and  Burma,”  continues  Anderson  himself, 
“suggests  the  suspicion  that  the  Chinese  in  former  days  did  not  neglect 
to  take  advantage  of  the  desire  to  possess  those  implements  or  charms 
and  made  a profitable  traffic  in  their  manufacture.  A consideration  of  the 
character  of  some  of  the  Yun-nan  implements  has  led  me  to  this  conclu- 
sion. A considerable  percentage  of  them  are  small,  beautifully  cut 
forms  with  few  or  none  of  the  signs  of  use  that  distinguish  the  large 
implements  from  the  same  localities,  and,  moreover,  all  of  them  are  of 
some  variety  of  jade.  These  facts  taken  in  conjunction  with  their 
elaborate  finish,  and  the  circumstance  that  jade  was  formerly  largely 
manufactured  at  Momien  into  a variety  of  personal  ornaments,  arc  the 
rea.sons  which  have  made  me  doubt  the  authenticity  of  many  of  the 
small  forms,  and  to  regard  them  only  as  miniature  models  of  the  large 
and  authentic  implements,  manufactured  in  recent  times  as  charms  to 
be  worn  without  inconvenience.” 

It  will  be  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  and  to  share  these  doubts  of 
the  discoverer,  but  even  granted  that  the  majority  of  pieces  in  his 
collection  is  authentic,  they  are  only  of  relative,  perhaps  merely  typo- 
logical, value  for  a study  of  Chinese  archaeology,  as  there  is  the  greatest 
likelihood  of  these  specimens  being  productions  of  the  Shan  tribes  of 
Yiin-nan,  the  earliest  settlers  in  that  region,  and  not  of  the  much 
later  colonizing  arrivals,  the  Chinese.  I readily  recognize  in  such 
types  of  celts  as  figured  by  Anderson,  e.  g.,  on  Plate  II,  6 and  7,  or 
on  Plate  III,  12  and  13,  striking  analogies  to  Chinese  celts  found  in 
Shensi  and  Shantung;  but  such  coincidences  are  not  forcible  as  con- 
clusive historical  evidence,  for  numerous  other  analogies  from  the 
most  diverse  parts  of  the  world  would  admonish  us  to  be  cautious 
in  this  respect.  Moreover,  there  is  not  a single  specimen  in  the  Ander- 
son collection  showing  that  characteristic  perforation  so  prominent  in 
the  jade  implements  of  Shensi.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  argued 


32  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

that  also  in  the  Shantung  stone  implements  to  be  described  by  me  this 
feature  docs  not  occur.  But  I am  not  going  either  to  insist  on  the 
Chinese  origin  of  the  latter.  We  cannot  separate  archaeological  finds 
from  their  locality,  and  as  the  only  con.s]iicuous  evidence  available  for 
the  Anderson  collection  is  that  the  objects  forming  it  sprang  up  on  the 
very  territory  occupied  by  the  Shan,  it  will  be  safe  to  ascribe  their 
origin  to  a non-Chinese  culture-group,  and  to  place  certain  restrictions 
on  them  in  a consideration  of  Chinese  archaeology;  they  belong,  not  to 
the  archaeology  of  the  Chinese,  but  of  China  in  a geographical  sense. 

Recently,  J.  Coggin  Brown,*  following  the  path  of  Anderson,  has 
examined  and  described  twelve  stone  implements  gathered  in  T'eng- 
yiieh  or  Momien,  nine  of  which  are  .said  to  be  made  from  various  jade- 
ites;  he  upholds  the  authenticity  of  the  implements  traded  in  that  district 
in  opposition  to  Anderson,  but  on  grounds  which  arc  hardly  convincing. 

E.  CoLBORNE  Baber**  reports  the  discovery  in  a stone  sarcophagus 
of  a polished  stone  axehead  of  serpentine  in  Ch'ung-k'ing,  Sze-ch'uan 
Province,  and  of  a chisel  of  polished  flint  which  he  found  in  the  posses- 
sion of  an  ojiium -.smoker  who  was  scraping  the  opium  stains  from  his 
Angers  with  the  edge  of  the  implement;  he  said  that  he  had  found  it, 
and  another,  in  a stone  coffin  in  a field  near  his  house.  “It  is  therefore 
undeniable,”  concludes  Baber,  “that  these  objects  are  found  in  con- 
nection with  coffins,  though  what  the  connection  may  be  is  not  clear. 
The  natives  call  them  hsieh  ‘wedges’  and  conceive  that  their  use  was 
to  fasten  down  the  lids  of  sarcophagi  in  some  unexplained  manner. 
A more  plausible  supposition  is  that  they  were  buried  with  the  dead  in 
conformity  with  some  traditional  or  superstitious  rite;  at  any  rate  the 
theory  is  impossible  that  the  people  who  hollowed  out  these  ponderous 
monoliths  worked  with  stone  chisels,  and  left  their  tools  inside.”  Unfor- 
tunately, the  author  does  not  give  any  description  nor  figures  of  his  two 
specimens  which  he  kept  in  his  private  collection,  and  I have  no  means 
of  ascertaining  what  has  become  of  them.  Nevertheless,  his  account  is 
valuable  in  that  it  shows  the  burial  of  stone  implements  with  the  dead  in 
Sze-ch'uan,  and  we  shall  see  that  the  same  custom  prevailed  in  Shensi. 

A stone  hatchet  found  by  Williams  in  a mound  forty  feet  high  near 
Kalgan  has  been  described  by  J.  Edkins.^  The  mound  belongs  to  a 
large  collection  of  graves,  large  and  small,  about  .seven  miles  east  of  the 
city  of  Yit  chou,  and  i lo  miles  west  of  Peking.  An  ancient  wall,  nearly 

‘ Stone  Implements  from  the  Teng-yueh  District,  Yunnan  Province,  Western 
China  {Journal  and  Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  Vol.  V,  1910,  pp.  299- 
305,  2 plates). 

^ Travels  and  Researches  in  Western  China,  pp.  129-131  (in  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  Supplementary  Papers,  Vol.  1,  London,  1886). 

’Stone  Hatchets  in  China  {Nature,  Vol.  XXX,  pp.  515-51&,  1884).  Compare 
the  review  by  H.  Fischer  in  Archiv  fiir  Anthropologie,  Vol.  XVI,  1886,  pp.  241-243. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


33 


round,  twenty  feet  high  and  about  eight  miles  in  circumference,  is  still 
in  existence  there.  The  mound  in  which  the  hatchet  was  found  is  in 
the  line  of  this  wall  — that  is,  the  wall  runs  north-west  and  south-east 
from  it.  Hence  the  wall-builders  did  not  regard  the  mound  as  sacred, 
for  it  would  not  in  that  case  have  been  made  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a 
wall  to  their  city  on  the  south-west  side.  There  is  another  large  mound 
known  as  the  grave  of  Tai  Wang.  It  is  a little  to  the  east  of  the  centre 
of  the  inclosed  space  once  a city,  and  the  principal  road  runs  through 
the  city  by  this  mound  from  east  to  west.  Rev.  Mark  Williams  of 
Kalgan,  who  found  the  hatchet,  and  was  the  first  foreigner  to  draw 
attention  to  the  old  city,  was  struck  with  the  general  resemblance  of 
the  mounds,  the  wall  and  the  hatchet  to  what  he  is  familiar  with  in 
Ohio.  So  close  was  the  similarity  that  it  seemed  to  him  to  require  that 
the  same  class  of  persons  who  made  the  one  should  have  made  the  other. 
Several  pieces  of  broken  potterv'^  were  found  in  the  neighborhood  of 
this  mound,  and  their  pattern  is  said  to  differ  from  modern  crockery. 
The  hatchet  is  about  five  inches  long,  and  is  made  of  a black  stone  not 
heavy.  Fischer  concludes  from  this  statement  that  it  is  likely  to  be  a 
serpentine  whose  specific  weight  varies  between  2.3  and  2.9.  Nothing 
is  .said  in  regard  to  the  shape  and  technique  of  the  hatchet. 

Mark  Williams  himself  has  given  the  following  account  of  this 
find:  • 

“From  Kalgan  to  Yii  chou  are  ancient  mounds  in  cluster  on  the 
plain  or  singly  on  eminences.  These  latter  would  indicate  signal  towers, 
while  the  former  would  suggest  tombs.  They  are  about  thirty  feet 
high,  circular  and  oval  in  shape,  and  no  arrangement  can  be  observed 
in  the  clusters. 

“At  the  base  of  a signal  mound  by  the  great  wall  of  Kalgan  I found 
a stone  axe. 

“The  Chinese  give  no  rational  explanation  of  these  mounds.  I have 
as  yet  found  no  mention  of  them  in  ancient  records.  At  Yii  chou, 
one  hundred  miles  south  of  Kalgan,  is  a cluster  of  forty  mounds ; four  miles 
off  arc  ruins  of  a city  wall.  Chinese  cities  have  rectangular  walls, 
with  towers  at  short  intervals.  But  this  is  a circular  embankment 
with  no  remains  of  towers.  The  part  of  the  remaining  entrance  is 
unlike  the  gate  of  a Chinese  city.  Records  state  that  this  was  the 
seat  of  a Chinese  prince  who  lived  b.  c.  200.  In  some  places  the  wall  is 
levelled,  in  other  places  it  is  perfect,  making  an  acute  angle  at  the 
summit.  Cultivation  has  narrowed  the  bases  of  the  mounds,  but 
superstition  prevents  their  destruction.  To  one  familiar  with  the 

'.Ancient  Earth-works  in  China.  Annual  Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
1885,  Part  I,  p.  907,  Washington,  1886. 


34  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

works  of  the  mound  builders  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  stone  ax, 
the  mounds,  circular  wall,  suggest  a similar  race.” 

Two  flint  arrow-heads,  both  without  barbs,  found  by  the  well-known 
naturalist  Armand  David  in  Mongolia  in  1866,  have  been  published 
by  E.  T.  Hamy.^  They  are  finely  polished,  recalling  similar  pieces 
still  in  use  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  first  Russian  explorers  in 
eastern  Siberia.  Hamy  basing  his  evidence  on  a statement  in  David’s 
diary  points  out  the  comparatively  recent  origin  of  these  finds  which 
have  been  made  in  a black  diluvial  soil  together  wdth  small  fragments 
of  pottery  and  metal  instruments,  and  with  the  remains  of  recent 
animals.  It  is  therefore  necessary,  concludes  Hamy,  for  the  moment  at 
least,  to  abandon  the  theory  of  a Mongol  quaternary  man  and  the 
ingenious  considerations  prematurely  attached  to  it.^  At  all  events, 
these  two  arrow-heads  rather  seem  to  point  in  the  direction  of  Siberian 
than  of  Chinese  antiquity.  Dr.  Bushell  (in  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  29) 
mentions  one  jade  arrow-head  in  his  private  collection. 

Enrico  H.  Giglioli  ® has  described  a stone  implement  found  in 
1896  by  F.  C.  Coltelli  in  Yen-ngan  fu,  Shensi  Province,  and  designated 
as  a yao  ch'an  “medicine  spade.”  It  is  flat,  of  rectangular  shape  (22.8 
cm  long,  8.5 — 10.5  cm  wide,  i.i  cm  thick),  with  a perforation  in  the 
upper  end  bored  from  one  side  only,  with  a diameter  of  3.1  cm  on  the 
one  side  and  2.3  cm  on  the  other  side,  so  that  the  perforation  has  the 
shape  of  an  obtuse  cone.  Altogether  it  resembles  the  types  figured  by 
me  on  Plate  V.  Giglioli  asserts  that  it  did  not  serve  as  a battle-axe, 
but  as  a mattock  in  husbandry.  The  material,  he  calls  “fine  jasper  ”(?) 
and  defines  the  colors  of  it  as  yellow,  gray  and  white.  For  the  rest, 
he  depends  on  the  Anderson  collection,  eleven  specimens  of  which  are 
reproduced  and  listed  as  Chinese. 

In  the  Bishop  collection,  there  is  a small  polished  celt  (No.  324) 
made  by  Bushell  (Vol.  II,  p.  106)  previous  to  the  Han  dynasty  and 
described  by  him  as  “perforated  for  use  as  an  amulet,  with  rounded 
comers  and  bevelled  rim,  one  face  being  perfectly  flat,  the  other  having 
a bevelled  cutting  edge;  in  Burma  as  well  as  in  southw’estem  China, 
such  amulets  are  supposed  to  make  the  wearer  invulnerable.”  Another 
celt  in  the  same  collection  is  decorated  with  the  “thunder-pattern” 
(meander)  and  the  monster  t'ao-l'ich  of  which  Bushell  thinks  it  may 

‘ Note  sur  les  silex  tallies  d’Eul-Chd-San-hao  (^Bulletin  du  Museum  d’llisloire 
naturelle,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  46-48,  Paris,  1898,  2 Figs.).  See  also  the  note  by  J.  Uenikek, 
The  Races  of  Man,  p.  362. 

^ On  the  glacial  period  in  Mongolia  see  now  G.  Merzb.\cher,  Zur  Eiszeitfrage 
in  der  nordwestlichen  Mongolei  {Petermann's  Mitleilungen,  Vol.  57,  1911,  p.  18). 

* L’eta  della  pietra  nella  Cina  colla  descrizione  di  alcuni  esemplari  nella  mia 
collezione,  in  Archivio  per  I'anlropologia  e la  etnologia,  V'ol.  XXVIII,  p.  374,  Firenze, 
i«98. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  II 


Jade  Chisels  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


35 


have  been  intended  for  a votive  offering  to  a temple  of  the  Thunder- 
god  who  was  more  worshipped  in  early  days  than  now;  but  this  supposi- 
tion is  not  supported  by  any  Chinese  text.  Another  celt  in  the  Bishop 
collection  bears  the  inscription  Iliia-shih  sheng  ch'un,  “May  the  Hua 
family  flourish  like  spring!  ” This  inscription  looks  very  suspicious  and 
is  certainly  a recent  additional  improvement.  Bushell  calls  these 
miniature  celts  by  a Chinese  name  yao  ch'an  “medicine  spades.”  ' 

The  new  material  here  submitted  consists  of  two  groups  from  two 
different  localities;  first,  a collection  of  fifteen  jade  implements  made  by 
me  in  Si-ngan  fu  and  illustrated  on  Plates  II  — VIII,  and  secondly,  a 
collection  of  twelve  stone  implements  originating  from  Ts'ing-chou  fu 
in  Shantung  Province.  The  former  lot  has  come  to  light  from  ancient 
graves  in  the  province  of  Shensi,  all  situated  west  of  the  present  city  of 
Si-ngan  along  the  road  to  the  old  town  of  Hien-yang.  These  graves 
are  justly  considered  by  the  Chinese  living  in  that  locality  as  belonging 
to  the  period  of  the  Chou  dynasty  (b.  c.  i 122-249),  the  aspect 
of  these  implements  found  in  them  points  to  the  same  period,  so  that  the 
internal  evidence  corroborates  the  historical  tradition.  They  are  all 
made  of  beautiful  qualities  of  jade,  highly  polished  and  of  most  exquisite 
colors,  such  as  is  no  longer  mined,  the  supply  having  been  exhausted 
long  ago,  but  such  as  was  found  on  the  very  soil  of  the  province  in  that 
epoch  to  which  these  objects  must  be  referred. 

The  stone  hammer  of  dark-green  jade,  without  perforation,  rci)re- 
sented  on  Plate  II,  Fig.  i,  is  of  particular  interest,  because  only  the 
blade  is  polished,  while  all  other  parts,  also  the  lateral  sides,  are  inten- 
tionally roughened  to  afford  a firm  grip  to  the  hand  clasping  the  ham- 
mer in  using  it.  On  the  face  shown  in  the  illustration,  the  polished 
blade  extends  only  5 cm  in  length  against  1 2 cm  on  the  opposite  face, 
while  the  total  length  of  the  implement  amounts  to  14.5  cm;  its  width 
over  the  back  is  5 cm,  over  the  blade  6.5  cm;  its  thickness  is  2.5  cm 
near  the  butt  and  reaches  3.5  cm  in  the  middle.  Above  the  polished 
portion  on  the  face  visible  in  our  plate  a slight  depression  will  be  ob- 
served, apparently  used  for  resting  a finger  in;  there  is  another  on  the 

‘ In  the  June  number  of  Man,  p.  81  (Vol.  XI,  1911)  there  is  a brief  article  by 
R.  A.  Smith  on  The  Stone  Age  in  Chinese  Turkestan,  illustrating  on  a plate  twenty- 
four  worked  stones  collected  by  M.  A.  Stein  in  the  Lop-nor  desert.  Two  jade  celts 
and  three  arrow  or  lance-points  are  the  only  implements  in  this  lot.  The  material 
is  not  such  as  to  allow  us  to  establish  any  historical  connections,  and  is  doubtless 
not  associated  with  Chinese  culture.  — In  the  July  number  of  T'oung  Pao  (1911, 
P-  437).  Chavannes  reviews  a paper  by  Torii  Ryuzo  on  his  archieological  explora- 
tion of  southern  Manchuria  (in  Japanese,  Tokyo,  1910);  he  discovered  prehistoric 
remains  on  the  peninsula  Liao-tung  where  he  excavated  stone  axes  and  arrow-heads, 
fragments  of  pottery  decorated  with  various  geometric  designs,  stone  weights  and 
bone  awls  for  the  use  of  fishermen.  I regret  I have  not  yet  had  occasion  to  see  this 
important  paper. 


36  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

upper  left  edge,  and  a still  deeper  round  cavity  on  the  opposite  face 
near  the  back.  These  various  features  combine  to  show  that  this 
hammer  was  not  hafted,  but  freely  worked  with  in  the  hand,  and  the 
edge  shows  conspicuous  traces  of  ancient  use.  The  edge  is  curved  and 
more  rounded  on  one  side  than  on  the  other. 

The  small  axe  shown  in  Fig.  3 of  the  same  Plate  (7.2  cm  long,  3.9 
cm  wide  over  the  back,  4.7  cm  over  the  middle,  and  4.4  cm  over  the 
edge;  greatest  thickness  3.4  cm),  of  a finely  polished  light-green  jade,  is 
of  the  same  type,  generally.  It  is  entirely  polished  except  the  butt. 
There  is  an  oblong  piece  with  rough  surface  cut  out  of  one  of  the  lateral 
sides  for  a finger-support,  and  there  is  a shallow  round  depression  on  the 
lower  face  for  the  same  purpose.  The  cutting  edge,  very  fine  and  sharji, 
is  almost  straight,  forming  right  angles  with  the  lateral  sides. 

Fig.  2 on  Plate  II  is  a flat  chisel,  thick  in  the  centre  and  gradually 
sloping  towards  the  edges.  It  is  perforated  near  the  back.  All  sides 
are  convex  in  shape,  and  the  cutting  edge  runs  in  a big  graceful  curve. 
The  blade  is  not  set  off  as  in  other  pieces.  It  measures  in  length 
1 1.5  cm,  6-7.5  cm  in  width  and  1.5  cm  in  thickness  in  the  central  portion. 
The  jade  exhibits  a leaf-green  color  containing  various  shades  of  green 
intermingled  with  black  streaks. 

The  large  heavy  hammer  (weight  lbs.)  on  Plate  III  is  the 
most  remarkable  specimen  among  these  jade  implements  from  the 
graves  of  Shensi.  It  is  carved  from  a fine  plant-green  jade  covered  on 
the  lower  face  and  the  one  lateral  side  visible  in  the  plate  with  iron- 
rust  colored  spots  (black  in  the  illustration).  In  shape,  it  is  unlike  any 
of  the  others,  and  though  the  blade  is  formed  like  that  of  a hammer 
(compare  Plate  II,  Fig.  i),  it  ends  abruptly  in  a broad  and  blunt  edge 
(2.2  cm  high)  exhibiting  a rough  .surface  evidently  much  used  for  pound- 
ing. The  general  shape  of  the  implement  is  rectangular,  the  lower 
face  and  the  butt  are  almost  plain,  the  lateral  sides  are  straight.  The 
upper  surface  is  slanting  in  two  planes  towards  the  butt.  Two  large 
jierf orations  are  bored  by  means  of  a tubular  drill'  through  the  central 
part  of  the  body,  side  by  side,  separated  only  by  a narrow  strip  i mm 
in  width  and  translucent  when  struck  by  the  light.  The  two  holes 
have  been  bored  from  the  top  where  they  form  fairly  regular  circles 
(the  one  3.5  cm,  the  other  3.8  cm  in  diameter),  while  they  are  more 
irregular  on  the  lower  face.  It  is  hard  to  see  the  purpose  of  these  two 
hollow  cylinders,  if  it  was  not  the  object  to  diminish  the  weight  of  this 
heavy  piece.  The  two  tubes  cut  out  ^ycre,  of  course,  very  useful  to 
yield  the  material  for  other  carvings.  The  perforation  near  the  butt 
was  convenient  when  using  the  implement  as  a pounder;  the  palm 

‘Described  in  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  203  and  Bushell,  Chinese  .Art,  Vol.  I,  p.  144. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  III. 


Jade  hammer  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province. 


it 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  IV. 


Jade  Chisel  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province 


f 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL. 


Jade  Chisels  of  Chou  period,  from  Shensi  Province. 


Jade. 


Feb.,  1912. 


37 


clutched  around  the  butt,  while  thumb  and  middle  finger  caught  into 
the  hole  from  above  and  below. 

The  chisel  on  Plate  IV  is  of  extraordinary  size  and  weight  lbs.), 
22  cm  long,  1 1.7  cm  wide  above  and  14.5  cm  wide  below,  and  i cm 
thick;  it  is  somewhat  thicker  in  the  centre  and  gradually  sloping  from 
there  towards  the  edges.  The  upper  edge  is  somewhat  slanting,  the 
sides  are  slightly  convex,  and  the  blade  makes  an  elegantly  curved 
sweep.  It  is  blunt,  about  2 mm  wide.  The  implement  was  accordingly 
ceremonial,  as  shown  also  by  its  size  and  weight.  The  large  eye  (2.5 
cm  in  diameter)  is  just  in  the  centre  between  the  two  lateral  sides  and 
has  been  drilled  equally  from  the  upper  and  lower  face  forming  a pro- 
jecting rim  in  the  middle  of  the  interior.  The  color  of  the  stone  is  of  an 
indistinct  gray  interspersed  all  over  with  deep-yellow  spots  (which 
show  black  in  the  plate). 

On  Plate  V three  chisels  are  shown.  That  in  Fig.  i is  of  oblong 
rectangular  shape  (15  cm  long,  2. 2-3. 2 cm  wide,  and  i cm  thick)  of 
milk-white  opaque  jade  with  yellow  streaks  and  spots,  perforated  near 
the  handle,  where  a small  piece  is  chipped  off.  The  edge  is  but  slightly 
rounded,  almost  straight  and  angular;  it  is  blunt  now,  having  appar- 
ently been  long  in  use,  and  cracked,  earthy  matter  having  deeply  pen- 
etrated into  it.  Fig.  2 represents  the  same  type  (15.5  cm  long,  3. 7-4. 2 
cm  wide,  and  9 mm  thick  in  the  middle)  of  a light  sea-green  jade.  Above 
and  below  the  perforation,  a leaf-shaped  cavity  (7.5  cm  long)  in  the 
surface  will  be  noticed  which  offered  a convenient  resting-place  for  the 
second  finger  when  the  thumb  and  third  finger  clasped  the  narrow 
sides  in  using  the  instrument  for  cutting  or  scraping.  The  edge  is 
still  sharp,  very  little  curved;  the  blade  is  gradually  sloping  towards 
the  edge  over  0.5  cm.  The  perforation  has  been  effected  from  one  face 
only,  i.e.  from  the  face  opposite  the  one  shown  in  the  ])late  where  the 
diameter  is  i cm  while  on  the  face  shown  it  is  only  0.5  cm. 

The  jnece  in  Fig.  3 (14  cm  long,  5. 2-6. 2 cm  wide,  2-5  mm  thick) 
is  one  of  exceptional  beauty  because  of  the  quality  and  color  of  its  jade 
which  has  the  appearance  of  ivor}'.^  It  forms  a flat  rectangle  tapering, 
as  also  the  others,  towards  the  handle.  The  two  eyes  are  drilled  from 
the  side  shown  in  the  plate  (0.8  and  1.2  cm  in  diameter).  The  edge  is 
slightly  curved  and  bevelled  off  at  the  comers.  This  piece  is  so  elegantly 
polished  and  of  such  elaborate  material  and  workmanship  that  it  cannot 
have  been  employed  for  ordinary  use.  The  two  perforations  point 
also  to  its  ceremonial  character. 

The  chisel  in  Fig.  i,  Plate  VI,  is  made  of  a deep-black  jade  spotted 
in  the  lower  portion  with  gra%dsh-blue  clouds  as  visible  in  the  rei)ro- 

* Called  by  the  Chinese  “chickenbone-white"  (chi  ku  pai). 


38  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

duction.  It  is  14.5  cm  long,  3 cm  wide  over  the  back  and  6.2  cm  over 
the  blade,  i.i  cm  thick.  The  eye  is  drilled  from  one  side  only,  the  one 
not  shown  in  the  plate  where  the  diameter  is  1.3  cm,  while  on  the  op- 
posite face  it  is  only  7 mm,  so  that  the  interior  wall  which  is  well  polished 
assumes  the  shape  of  an  obtuse  cone.  It  will  be  noticed  that  there  is 
on  the  left  lateral  edge  running  along  the  lower  face  a projecting  ridge 
which  affords  a sujiport  to  the  finger  in  handling  the  implement.  On 
the  opposite  lateral  side,  the  lower  edge  is  flattened  out  into  a strip 
about  3 mm  wide.  Both  lateral  sides  are  not  vertical,  but  slightly 
slanting  in  such  a way  that  a cut  made  latitudinally  would  show  a 
trapezoid.  The  blade  with  pointed  curved  edge  is  short,  and  as  usual, 
bilateral,  while  the  specimen  in  Fig.  2 has  a unilateral  blade,  but  other- 
wise resembling  Fig.  i in  shape  and  having  the  same  slanting  lateral 
sides.  There  is  no  perforation.  There  are  two  curious  incisions  in  the  left 
lateral  side,  one  in  the  upper  left  corner  running  from  the  middle  of  the 
back  across  to  the  lateral  side,  the  other  below  it,  a .small  segment  of 
the  size  and  shape  of  a thumb-nail  being  cut  out  of  the  lower  face. 
It  is  easy  to  see  that  these  two  incisions  afforded  a hold  to  the  finger- 
nails, and  that  this  implement  was  handled  in  such  a manner  that  the 
thumb  lay  flat  on  the  right  lateral  side,  the  nail  of  the  second  finger 
fitting  into  the  upper  left  incision  and  the  nail  of  the  middle  finger 
into  the  lower  incision  on  the  left  lateral  side.  No  doubt  this  specimen 
has  been  in  actual  use.  It  measures  7 cm  in  length,  1.7  cm  in  width 
over  the  back,  and  2.6  cm  over  the  blade,  and  is  i . i cm  thick.  It  is  made 
of  a jade  of  very  peculiar  coloration,  a kind  of  soap-green,  white  light  and 
dark  blue-mottled,  darker  shades  of  green  in  more  continuous  masses 
and  larger  white  spots  being  displayed  over  the  lower  face. 

The  knife-shaped  object  in  Fig.  4,  Plate  VI,  is  car\-ed  out  of  a beau- 
tiful transparent  leaf-green  jade  (only  3 mm  thick)  interspersed  udth 
masses  of  deep-black  specks  designated  as  “moss”  {t'ai)  by  the  Chinese. 
If  held  against  the  light,  it  presents  a beautiful  effect.  The  very  delicate 
character  of  this  implement  is  sufficient  proof  for  its  having  never  been 
put  to  any  profane  use.  The  blade  (on  the  left  side)  is  merely  indicated 
and  only  2 mm  wade,  while  the  cutting  edge  is  blunt  (I^  mm  thick) 
and  of  the  same  thickness  as  the  two  straight  lateral  edges.  In  length 
it  measures  12  cm,  in  width  3. 6-3. 9 cm.  The  eye  (diameter  5 mm)  is 
bored  from  the  two  faces,  and  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  interior  wall 
a very'  regular  ring  is  left,  evidently  with  intention.  This  implement, 
no  doubt,  was  an  emblem  of  power  and  rdnk  and  belongs  to  the  category 
of  objects  discussed  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  jade  chisel  in  Plate  VII,  Fig.  i,  is  of  a similar  type  as  that  in 
Fig.  2,  Plate  VI,  only  somewhat  longer  and  thicker  (8.5  cm  long,  2 cm 


4 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  VI. 


2 

4 3 

Jade  Chisels  and  Other  Implements  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province. 


field  museum  of  natural  history. 


/ 


Explanation  of  Pl.  VII. 

Fig.  I.  Jade  Chisel,  a Front,  b Side-View. 

Fig.  2.  Bronze  Chisel  for  Comparison  with  Stone  Type. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X,  PL.  VII. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  VIII. 


Jade  Chisel  and  Knife  of  Chou  Period,  from  Shensi  Province. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


39 


w-ide,  1.4  cm  thick).  It  is  shown  in  front  (a)  and  side-view  (b).  It  is 
grouped  here  with  a bronze  chisel  (Fig.  2),  trapezoidal  in  section  (10.2 
cm  long),  with  long  socket,  to  show  the  close  agreement  in  fonn  between 
the  stone  and  metal  chisels. 

The  stone  (presumably  jadeite)  represented  in  Fig.  3 of  Plate  VI 
has  been  found  in  a grave  of  the  Han  period  in  the  village  ]Van-ts'un 
west  of  Si-ngan.  Nothing  is  known  about  the  manner  of  its  use  in  the 
grave.  The  Chinese  call  it  “blood-stone”  from  the  peculiar  blood-red 
color  covering  the  greater  part  of  the  upper  surface,  which  besides  shows 
layers  of  a deep  black  and  along  the  left  side  a portion  of  a jade-white 
tinge.  The  lower  face  and  the  edge  are  black  over  which  an  indistinct 
stratum  of  red  is  strewn.  The  natural  fonn  of  the  stone  is  evidently 
preserved  in  it,  and  besides  the  high  polishing,  the  effect  of  human  work 
is  visible  in  the  deeply  cut  incision  in  the  upper  right  comer  where 
one  small  triangular  piece  has  been  sawm  out.  The  traces  of  the  saw  are 
distinctly  visible;  the  sawing  was  done  along  the  slanting  portion,  and 
after  sawing  through,  the  piece  was  broken  out,  as  can  be  recognized 
from  the  rough,  irregular  surface  of  the  horizontal  plane,  while  the 
slanting  plane  is  smooth.  Beside  this,  there  is  a shallow  depression 
made  rough  which  might  have  served  for  the  insertion  of  the  thumb, 
indicating  that  this  stone  was  used  as  an  implement  for  battering  or 
pounding,  the  triangular  point  being  held  below;  but  the  nature  of  the 
incision  remains  unexplained.  I believe  that  the  workman  had  some 
plan  in  mind  of  sawing  and  grinding  this  piece  into  shape ; the  beginning 
of  his  activity  is  here  showm,  and  for  some  unknown  reason,  he  was 
stopped  or  prevented  from  continuing  his  work.  The  implement  is 
7 cm  long,  5.5.  cm  wdde,  and  1.6-1.9  cm  thick.  The  blood-red  color 
is  explained  by  the  Chinese  as  having  originated  from  the  blood  of  the 
corpse  penetrating  into  the  stone,*  which  is  certainly  fanciful. 

The  large  jade  knife  in  Fig.  i , Plate  VIII,  is  a unique  specimen  of  extra- 
ordinary dimensions,  unfortunately  broken  in  two  pieces  when  found,  two 
fragments  being  lost,  without  detracting  from  the  possibility  of  realizing 
the  original  form.  It  is  of  rectangular  trapezoidal  shape,  measuring 
in  length  over  the  central  perforation  35  cm,  over  the  back  34  cm,  over 
the  cutting  edge  36.9  cm;  the  upper  edge  is  13.5  cm  long,  the  lower 
II  cm;  the  width  varies  between  ii  and  13.2  cm,  being  11.8  cm  in  the 
middle,  on  account  of  the  concave  cutting  edge  curved  inwardly.  The 
blade  is  1.7  cm  wade  in  the  central  portion  and  gradually  diminishes  in 
width  towards  both  sides;  it  shows  the  same  form  and  dimensions  on 
both  faces  and  the  same  angle  of  inclination.  The  thickness  is  only 

1 This  view  is  expressed  also  by  many  authors,  e.  g.  in  the  Wu  It  siao  shih  by  Fang 
I-CHiH  (edition  of  1884),  Ch.  7,  p.  15  a. 


40  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

4 mm  along  the  back  and  increases  from  there  in  the  direction  towards 
the  blade  to  6 mm.  The  blade  is  transparent  when  viewed  against  the 
light.  Many  notches  are  visible  in  the  cutting  edge  from  which  it  might 
follow  that  actual  cutting  has  been  done  with  it.  The  back,  and  the 
upper  and  lower  edges  are  carefully  beveled.  There  are  five  perfora- 
tions,^ the  three  stretching  in  one  vertical  line  parallel  with  the  back 
having  the  same  size  (i.i  cm  in  diameter),  while  the  central  hole  has  a 
diameter  of  1.5  cm  and  the  one  below  of  0.5  cm;  the  boring  has  been 
executed  from  one  face  only,  as  can  be  seen  also  in  the  illustration ; the 
projecting  rings  there  visible  are  on  the  same  level  as  the  opposite  face. 
The  walls  of  these  perforations  are  well  polished  as  in  all  cases  known 
to  me.  The  fundamental  color  of  the  jade  is  light-green,  full  of  black 
veins  and  spots  and  of  w'hite  clouds,  as  may  be  recognized  in  the  repro- 
duction. Also  this  implement  doubtless  belongs  to  the  emblems  of 
power  as  described  in  the  next  chapter. 

Figure  2,  Plate  VIII,  represents  also  an  extraordinary  specimen  40.4 
cm  long,  5. 2-6. 2 cm  Mude,  and  1.8  cm  thick.  It  is  a chisel  cut  out  of  a 
grayish  silvery  jade  in  which  specks  like  silver  clouds  are  strewn  all 
over.  The  perforation  has  been  drilled  from  both  faces,  the  tw’o  borings 
not  meeting  exactly,  and  a projecting  ring  being  left  in  the  interior. 
The  cutting  edge  is  broken  off,  and  apparently  in  times  long  ago.  That 
no  more  than  the  edge  is  broken,  can  be  seen  from  the  lateral  sides 
just  tapering  into  a narrow  strip  above  the  breakage.  The  lateral  edge, 
partially  showing  in  the  illustration,  is  hollowed  out  in  a flat,  long  seg- 
ment which  is  in  a plane  a bit  lower  than  the  remaining  portion  of  this 
edge ; this  was  perhaps  done  to  afford  a firmer  grip  to  the  second  finger 
when  handling  the  instrument. 

A jade  dagger,  unique  for  its  material,  size  and  shape,  is  in  the  collec- 
tion of  H.  E.  Tuan  Fang,  Peking,  and  here  reproduced  in  Plate  IX 
from  a photograph  kindly  presented  by  him  to  the  author.  It  was 
dug  up  in  1903  not  far  from  the  old  city  of  Feng-siang  fu  in  Shensi 
Province  from  a considerable  depth  and  is,  in  all  probability,  older 
than  the  Chou  jieriod.  Its  substance  is  a peculiar  light-reddish  jade, 
such  as  I have  seen  in  no  other  specimen,  designated  by  the  Chinese 
hung  pao  yii  (Giles  No.  5269).  It  is  a two-edged  dagger  (92  cm  long 
and  12  cm  udde),  both  edges  being  equally  sharp,  running  into  a point 
bent  over  to  one  side,  not  central  as  in  the  later  bronze  daggers.  Another 
peculiar  feature  is  the  flattening  out  of  the  two  surfaces  of  the  blade 
into  four  distinct  zones  running  longitudinally.  At  the  end  of  the 
blade  a rectangular  band,  filled  with  cross-hatchings  and  surrounded 
on  either  side  by  four  parallel  incisions,  is  engraved.  A rectangular, 
perforated  hilt  (16  cm  long)  is  sharply  set  off  from  the  blade,  near  which 

‘ Compare  a similar  arrangement  of  four  perforations  in  Fig.  40. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  IX. 


Jade  Dagger,  probably  Shang  Period,  from  Shensi  Province,  in  the  Possession  of  h.  e.  Tuan  Fang,  Peking. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


41 


runs  across  a band  filled  wdth  parallel  oblique  lines.  Fiv 
consisting  of  four  deeply  grooved  lines,  arc  laid  out  in 
direction  on  the  other 
side  of  the  eye.  The 
same  ornaments  are  ex- 
ecuted on  both  faces. 

It  is  evident  that  this 
elaborate  and  costly 
production  was  never 
destined  for  any  prac- 
tical purpose,  but  that 
it  served  cither  in  some 
religious  ceremony,  or 
as  an  emblem  of  power, 
perhaps  of  sovereignty 
(compare  Ch.  II). 

Ceremonial  jade 
axes  were  still  turned 
out  at  the  time  of  the 
earlier  Han  dynasty,  as 
we  may  safely  infer 
from  a report  in  the  Ku 
yii  t'li  p'u  (Ch.  28,  pp. 

6,  8),  saying  that  in  the 
period  Shun-hua  of  the 


e bands,  each 
the  opposite 


Sung  dynasty  (990-995  a.  d.)  a certain  man  opened  the  tomb  of  Huai- 
nan  Wang  * of  the  Han  dynasty  from  which  he  obtained  precious  jades, 
and  among  these  two  jade  axe-heads:  “hence  it  is  known,”  the  author 
adds,  “that  they  are  objects  from  the  beginning  of  the  Han  period.” 
The  two  pieces  are  alike  in  shape  and  design,  fonned  in  what  the 
Chinese  call  a “rolled  or  coiled-up  cloud”  (k'iiian  yiin),  i.  e.  the  edge 
terminates  on  both  ends  in  a convolute  spiral;  the  blade  has  three  round 
perforations  arranged  in  a vertical  row  as  in  the  corresponding  bronze 
types  after  which  these  pieces  were  evidently  modeled.  There  is  a socket 
at  the  lower  end  for  the  reception  of  a handle  (Fig.  1). 

Jade  axes  {yii  tsi)  ^ in  connection  with  red-colored  shields  were  used 
in  the  hands  of  dancers  performing  the  dance  Ta  wu  in  the  ancestral 


* Title  of  the  Taoist  adept  Liu  Ngan,  second  century  b.  c. 

They  are  not  ‘‘jade-adorned  axes,”  as  Legge  (Li  Ki,  Vol.  II,  p.  33)  translates, 
or  ‘‘hacheorn^e  de  jade”  (Couvreur,  Vol.  I,  p.  731)  which,  first  of  all,  is  not  justi- 
fied by  the  two  simple  Chinese  words  meaning  only  “jade  axe,”  and  secondly, 
what  is  and  means  an  axe  adorned  with  jade?  No  such  thing  exists  or  has  ever 
existed,  but  there  are  jade  axes  made  exclusively  of  jade  (except  the  wooden  handle) 
which  it  is  doubtless  easier  to  make  than  to  adorn,  e.  g.  a bronze  axe  with  jade. 


42  Fiei.u  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

temple  of  Chou-kung  in  the  kingdom  of  Lu  {Li  ki,  Ming  t'ang  wei,  lo), 
but  also  by  the  Emperor  in  the  temple  of  Heaven  {kiao  miao).  It  is 


Fig.  3. 

Jade  Dance-Axes  (from  Ku  yii  t’u  p'u). 


to  this  passage  that  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  27,  p.  10)  refers  in  describing 
a ceremonial  jade  axe  on  which  the  head  of  a phenix  is  engraved.  “It 
is  an  implement  of  the  early  Ts'in  period  and  cannot  come  down  from 
the  Han  or  Wei  dynasties,”  is  addt'd  in  the  descriptive  text. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


43 


Figures  2 and  3 represent  two  other  dance-axes  illustrated  in  the 
Ku  yii  t'u  p'u,  both  ascribed  to  the  Han  period.  The  one  is  made  of 
jade  pale-yellow  and  bright-white  in  color,  without  flaw  and  engraved 
with  the  monster  t'ao-l'ieh  (in  the  text  called  hitang  mu  “the  yellow- 
eyed”)  and  a cicada  pattern  {chan  wen)  by  which  the  leaf-shaped  prongs 
are  understood,  so  frequently  displayed  on  the  bronze  beakers  called 
ts'un.  The  other  axe-head  (Fig.  3)  is  of  a bright-white  jade  with 
greenish  speckles  comparable  to  moss  and  decorated  with  “cloud  and 


thunder”  {yiin  lei)  patterns  (meanders)  and  cicada  de.signs  with  leaf 
veins. 

It  will  be  readily  .seen  that  these  ceremonial  jade  hatchets  of  the 
Han  arc  widely  different  in  their  artistic  shapes  and  decorations  from 
those  of  the  Chou  period,  which  are  plain  and  unjDretentious. 

Another  hatchet  of  jade  is  figured  by  Wu  Ta-ch'^ng  in  his  Ku  yii 
t'u  k'ao  (reproduced  in  Fig.  4)  and  explained  by  him  as  an  ancient 
dance-axe  on  the  ground  of  the  passages  referred  to.  It  will  be  rec- 
ognized that  this  specimen  is  much  simpler  than  any  of  the  Han  dynasty, 
and  I am  inclined  to  place  it  in  the  Chou  period.  Its  rectangular  shape, 
the  form  of  its  cutting  edge,  the  perforation  in  the  butt  arc  all  features 
occurring  in  the  Chou  celts,  while  the  peculiar  indentations  in  the  lateral 
sides  betray  the  ritualistic  character. 


44  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

In  the  Kin-shih  so,  two  ancient  bronze  hatchets  are  well  figured 
(Figs.  5 and  6),  the  one  obtained  from  Lo-yang  (Honan  Province), 

the  other  from  Lu-shih  hien 
(Honan  Province).  The  latter 
(Fig.  6)  is  interesting  with  ref- 
erence to  the  jade  dance-axes  in 
exhibiting  a more  primitive 
form  of  the  triangular  pattern, 
and  it  is  very  interesting  to  take 
note  of  the  interpretation  of  the 
brothers  Feng  that  this  orna- 
ment is  a yang  wen  “a  pattern 
of  the  male  principle.”  ^ The 
piece  in  Fig.  5 is  remarkable 
for  its  circular  blade  and  the 
two  lateral  crescent-shaped 
barbs;  the  rectangular  butt  was  stuck  into  the  cleft  of  the  wooden 
handle. 


^ I - » 


Fig.  6. 

.■\iicient  Bronze  Hatchet  (from  Kin-shih  so). 

Wc  arc  naturally  led  to  the  inquiry,  what  was  the  s\-mbolical  signif- 
icance of  jade  chisels,  knives  and  other  implements  buried  in  the  grave 
with  the  dead?  We  noticed  that  the  late  Dr.  Bushell,  chiefly  relying 

' They  expressly  deny  that  it  has  the  function  of  a written  character.  The 
Chinese  wording  certainly  means  in  our  language  a phallic  emblem. 


•■\ncient  Bronze  Hatchet  (from  Kin-shih  so). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


45 


on  Anderson’s  statement,  explained  the  miniature  jade  celts  as  protec- 
tive amulets.  This,  however,  is  a very' recent  development.  I am  not 
aware  of  the  fact  that  any  such  minute  celts  have  ever  been  discovered 
in  a grave;  they  result  from  surface  finds,  and  many  of  them  may  be 
just  a few  centuries  old.*  The  wearing  of  jade  celts  as  personal  adorn- 
ments is  not  older  than  the  Han  period,  as  shown  by  two  artistic  spec- 
imens in  our  collection  (Plate  XXVII I,  Figs.  3 and  4)  found  in  Han 
graves.  The  first  literary  allusion  to  such  charm  celts  occurs  in  the 
Po  wu  chi  of  the  third  century  a.  d.  (see  p.  64). 

As  early  as  the  Shang  dynasty  (b.  c.  1766-1122),  the  axe  seems  to 
have  been  the  victorious  emblem  of  the  sovereign.  In  the  sacrificial 
ode  Ch'angja  (Legge,  Shi  king,  Vol.  II,  p.  642)  in  praise  of  the  house  of 
Shang,  the  founder  of  the  dynasty  T'ang  is  described  as  “the  martial 
king  displaying  his  banner,  and  with  reverence  grasping  his  axe,  like 
a blazing  fire  which  no  one  can  repress.” 2 The  axe  was  accordingly  a 
sovereign  and  martial  emblem,  and  the  emperors  of  the  Chou  dynasty 
had  a pattern  of  axes  embroidered  on  their  robes  (called  fu,  Giles 
No.  3630).  This  ornament  was  the  eleventh  among  the  twelve  chang 
embroidered  on  the  imperial  state-robe  (Legge,  Chinese  Classics, 
Vol.  Ill,  pp.  80-81). 

Embroideries  with  representations  of  the  axes  fit  were  used  on  the 
altar  of  the  God  T'ai-i  “the  Supreme  Unity,”  “the  most  venerable 
among  the  gods,”  as  told  in  a h\Tnn  addressed  to  him  in  the  “Annals 
of  the  Former  Han  Dynasty”  (Chavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  618). 

There  was  a constellation  called  “the  Axes”  which,  being  bright, 
foreshadowed  the  emplo>Tnent  of  axes,  and  when  in  motion,  a levy  of 
troops.  The  axes  symbolize  the  events  in  the  anny  and  refer  to  the 

* E.  g.,  in  Bishop  (Vol.  H,  p.  208),  a ceremonial  axe  (No.  637)  for  display  on 
the  altar  of  a Taoist  temple  is  figured  and  described;  it  is  attributed  to  the  K'ien- 
lung  period  (i736-i795)-  Its  back  is  straight,  the  sides  concave,  and  the  edge 
rounded  and  convex  in  outline.  The  figure  of  a lion  stands  on  the  top  of  the  back, 
and  two  winged  monsters  covered  with  spiral  designs  are  attached  to  the  sides  in 
d jour  carving. 

* A ditty  in  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  240)  reads  thus:  “In  hewing  the 

wood  for  an  axe-handle,  how  do  you  proceed?  Without  another  axe  it  cannot  be 
done.  In  taking  a wife,  how  do  you  proceed?  Without  a go-between  it  cannot  be 
done.”  Biot  (in  Legge’s  Prolegomena,  p.  165)  refers  to  the  Pi-pa  ki,  a drama  of 
the  ninth  century,  in  which  the  go-between  presents  herself  with  an  axe  as  the 
emblem  of  her  mission,  and  cites  upon  the  subject  this  passage  of  the  Book  of  Songs. 
The  commentary  does  not  say,  remarks  Biot,  whether  this  custom  of  carrying  an 
axe  as  an  emblem  be  ancient;  the  go-between  makes  even  a parade  of  her  learning 
in  explaining  to  the  father  of  the  young  lady,  whom  she  has  come  to  ask  for,  why  she 
carries  an  axe.  In  my  opinion,  this  is  merely  a literary  jest  of  the  playwright.  It 
does  not  follow  either  from  the  above  passage  that  the  negotiator  of  a marriage 
actually  carried  an  axe  as  emblem ; the  making  of  an  axe-handle  by  means  of  an  axe 
is  simply  used  jocosely  by  way  of  a metaphor,  which  occurs  also  in  another  song 
{Ibid.,  p.  157). 


46  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

execution  made  in  times  of  war  (Sciilegel,  Uranographie  chinoise, 
p.  298). 

We  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  that  the  jade  emblems  of  sovereign 
power  were  made  in  the  shape  of  hammers,  knives  and  other  imple- 
ments, and  that  these  were  connected  with  an  ancient  form  of  solar 
worship;  this  investigation  will  shed  new  light  on  the  reasons  for  the 
burial  of  jade  implements  in  the  grave.  Being  emblems,  and  originally, 
in  all  probability,  images  of  the  solar  deity,  they  shared  in  the  quality 
of  sun-light  to  dispel  darkness  and  demons,  and  were  efficient  weapons 
in  warding  off  from  the  dead  all  evil  and  demoniacal  influences.  ^ 

Owing  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  S.  Couling,  a medical  missionary  in 
the  English  Baptist  Mission  in  Ts'ing-chou  fu.  Shantung  Province,  I 
am  enabled  to  lay  here  before  the  reader  twelve  stone  implements 
discovered  by  this  gentleman  in  the  vicinity  of  his  station.  They  had 
been  loaned  by  him  to  the  Royal  Scottish  Museum  of  Edinburgh,  and 
Mr.  Walter  Clark,  Curator  of  the  Museum,  by  request  of  Mr.  Couling, 
has  shown  me  the  courtesy  of  forwarding  these  specimens  to  me  for 
investigation.  I avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  herewith  express 
my  thanks  also  publicly  to  both  Mr.  Couling  and  Mr.  Clark  for  their 
generous  liberality,  to  which  a considerable  advance  in  our  scanty 
knowledge  of  stone  implements  from  China  is  due.  Mr.  Couling,  who 
deserves  the  honor  of  being  credited  with  the  discovery,  wrote  to  me 
on  September  22,  1905,  from  Ts'ing-chou  fu  in  regard  to  these  finds: 
“These  specimens,  with  the  exception  of  one  (Plate  XII,  Fig.  5)  the 
origin  of  which  is  unknown,  hav'e  been  found  in  this  immediate  neigh- 
borhood, say  within  a radius  of  ten  miles  from  the  city  during  the  last 
few  years.  Most  of  them  hav’e  been  obtained  through  my  schoolboys. 
On  knowing  of  what  I wanted  some  remembered  to  have  seen  such 
things,  some  knew  neighbors  who  had  them;  others  went  out  searching 
and  found  a few.  The  finds  are  made  in  ploughed  fields  or  in  river  beds  - 
or  in  the  loess  cliffs  not  far  down.  The  Chinese  pay  no  heed  to  them, 
only  sometimes  troubling  to  keep  one  as  being  a somewhat  curious  stone. 
I should  say  there  must  be  plenty  more,  though  it  is  nearly  a year  since 
I obtained  the  last,  but  they  are  not  easy  to  collect,  as  the  people  do 
not  recognize  their  value.” 

Jade  does  not  occur  in  any  of  these  specimens,  for  the  apparent  rea- 
son that  this  mineral  is  not  found  in  situ  in  Shantung;  they  are  all  made 
of  easily  procured  common  local  stones  of  the  character  of  talco-hem- 

* The  reader  may  be  referred  to  Chapter  VIII 'of  De  Groot,  The  Religious 
System  of  China,  V^ol.  VI  (Leiden,  1910),  where  a full  and  able  discussion  of  this 
subject  is  given. 

* This  statement  is  in  full  accord  with  that  given  by  Chinese  authors  (see  below). 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL. 


X 


Stone  Celts  from  Shantung  Province. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


47 


atite  schist,  with  the  exception  of  the  grooved  hammer,  which  is  diorite, 
but  all  of  them  are  highly  polished. 

In  glancing  over  the  eleven  objects  represented  on  the  three  Plates 
^ ^II,  it  wnll  be  noticed  that  all  of  them  lack  that  one  characteristic 
feature  of  the  vShensi  implements,  the  perforation.  Mr.  Couling  has, 
however,  succeeded  in  finding  at  a later 
date  a perforated  chisel,  reproduced  after 
a sketch  of  his  in  Fig.  7,  of  a grayish 
white  hard  marble-like  stone  with  slightly 
convex  lateral  edges  and  with  a perforation 
not  far  above  the  centre  of  the  surface. 

The  borings  have  been  effected  from  each 
face,  meeting  inexactly  at  the  middle,  as 
shown  by  the  dotted  lines  in  the  sketch. 

This  piece  perfectly  agrees  in  shape  with 
the  corresponding  types  of  Shensi  and  has 
probably  been  used  as  a mattock. 

Perforations  in  stone  implements  have 
had  a significance  and  a purpose;  if  they 
are  large  enough  to  allow  the  insertion  of 
a wooden  or  bone  haft,  we  shall  not  fail  to 
conclude  that  such  has  actually  been  the 
case.  If  the  perforations  are  so  small  in 
diameter  that  such  a contrivance  seems  out 

of  the  question,  we  are  led  to  the  belief  perforated  StoJe' cJisel  from  Shan- 
that  they  served  only  for  the  passage  of  a ® 

thong  or  cord  from  which  the  implement 

was  suspended  and  perhaps  fastened  to  the  girdle,  or  that  some  kind  of 
ceremonial  usage  was  involved;  we  may. infer  in  this  latter  case  that  the 
perforation  has  the  function  of  a conventional  survival  in  remembrance 
of  its  former  more  intense  utilization.  As  Giglioli  correctlv  supposed, 
the  broad  rectangular  type  of  stone  chisel  with  large  eye  near  the  back 
seems  to  have  served  as  a mattock  in  husbandry.  I am  not  inclined  to 
think  that  pieces  of  precious  jade  in  beautiful  colors  have  ever  been 
turned  to  such  a purpose;  but  if  we  realize  that  .such  types  as  repre- 
sented on  Plate  II,  Fig.  2,  and  Plate  IV  were  simply  made  of  ordinary 
stone  with  all  necessary  adaptations,  we  can  recognize  in  them  the 
agncultural  implement  in  question.  And  in  the  specimen  from  Shan- 
tung (Fig.  7)  a real  mattock  of  common  stone  has  come  down  to  us. 

In  certain  parts  of  northern  China,  such  mattocks  are  still  actually 
in  use.  W.  W.  Rockiiill  (Diary  of  a Journey  through  Mongolia  and 
Tibet,  p.  46)  made  the  following  observation  on  the  bank  of  the  Yellow 


48  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

River  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  Kansu  Province:  “There  is  now 
going  on  a curious  process  of  agriculture  which  shows  how  little  the 
Chinese  understand  saving  of  labor.  The  farmers  dig  up  a large  ]iatch 
of  the  surface  of  each  field,  cart  it  back  to  their  farm-yards  and  there 
let  the  clods  of  earth  dry,  when  they  take  a mallet  (or  a stone  hammer 
with  an  eye  drilled  through  it  in  which  to  fix  a long  handle),  and  reduce 
it  all  to  powder;  with  this  is  then  mixed  what  manure  they  have  been 
able  to  collect  on  the  road,  and  this  top  dressing  is  laboriously  carted 
back  and  spread  over  the  field  from  which  nine-tenths.of  its  component 
parts  were  a few  days  before  quite  as  laboriously  taken  away.” 

Even  the  modem  iron  mattock  has  clearly  preserved  in  shape  and 
jicrforation  its  relationship  to  its  stone  jiredecessor.  It  is  of  the  same 
rectangular  form  with  straight  edge,  and  a wooden  handle  standing 
vertically  against  its  surface  is  stuck  through  the  hole. 

This  subject  is  of  great  significance  for  the  history  of  agriculture. 
Everywhere  in  Eastern  Asia  we  can  observe  two  principal  and  distinct 
methods  in  the  cultivation  of  cereals,  which  are  often  employed  side  by 
side  in  the  same  geographical  area,  but  then  as  a rule  by  representatives 
of  different  tribes  differentiated  as  to  the  degree  of  their  culture.  The 
one  method  bears  a close  resemblance  to  our  process  of  gardening, 
c.xcept  that  broadcast  sowing  obtains,  and  the  hoe  or  mattock  is  almost 
the  only  tool  utilized  in  it  (hoe-culture).  The  other  method  identical 
with  tme  agriculture  is  based  on  the  principle  of  the  plough  drawn  by 
cattle,  on  the  laying-out  of  fields  in  terraces  and  the  appliance  of  arti- 
ficial irrigation.  There  is  a sharp  line  of  demarcation  between  hoe- 
culture  and  plough-culture,  each  being  a well-defined  sphere  in  itself, 
the  latter  not  having  developed  from  the  former.  The  aspect  of  the 
development  of  the  two  stages  is  of  a purely  historical  character,  as 
far  as  Eastern  Asia  is  concerned.  There,  the  Chinese  are  the  represent- 
atives of  plough -culture,  and  so  are  the  great  groups  of  Shan  and  Burmese 
tribes,  in  short  the  entire  stock  comprised  under  the  name  Indochinese 
because  of  their  affinity  in  language;  the  aboriginal  tribes  gradually 
pushed  back  by  the  Chinese  in  their  onward  march  towards  the  south 
and  designated  by  them  with  the  generic  name  Man,  as  well  as  the 
Mon-Khmer  or  South-east-Asiatic  group  (Schmidt’s  Austronesians) , 
were  originally  only  representatives  of  hoe-culture.  In  many  localities, 
they  received  the  plough  from  their  more  powerful  conquerors  and 
adopted  with  it  their  methods  of  tilling;  in  others,  they  have  still  pre- 
served their  original  state,  as  may  be  seen  from  numerous  reports,* 

* This  subject  deserves  a special  monograph.  Many  intricate  problems,  as  the 
domestication  of  cattle,  the  history  of  the  wheeled  cart  which  appears  only  in  the 
stage  of  plough-culture  and  is  absent  in  hoe-culture,  the  history  of  rice-cultivation 
and  terraced  fields,  are  here  involved,  which  could  be  discussed  only  at  great  length. 

I can  make  here  only  these  brief  allusions,  in  order  to  define  the  historical  position 
of  the  stone  mattock. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XI. 


I 


Stone  hammers  from  Shantung  Province. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XII 


STONE  PESTLES  FROM  SHANTUNG  PROVINCE. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


49 


from  which  I may  be  allowed  to  select  one.  “The  most  common  form 
of  cultivation  (among  the  Kachin  of  Upper  Burma)  is  the  wasteful 
process  of  hill-clearing.  The  method  employed  is  to  select  an  untouched 
hill  slope,  fell  the  jungle  about  March  and  let  it  lie  on  the  ground  till 
it  is  thoroughly  dry.  This  is  set  fire  to  in  June  or  July,  and  the  surface 
of  the  earth  is  broken  up  with  a rude  hoe,  so  as  to  mi.K  in  the  wood  ashes. 
The  sowdng  is  of  the  roughest  description.  The  worker  dibbles  away 
with  the  hoe  in  his  right  hand  and  throws  in  a grain  or  two  with  his  left. 
The  crop  is  left  to  take  care  of  itself  till  it  is  about  a foot  high,  when  it 
is  weeded,  and  again  weeded  before  the  crop  gets  ripe.  The  crop  is 
usually  reaped  about  October.  The  same  field  cannot  be  reaped  two 
years  running.  Usually  it  has  to  lie  fallow  from  seven  to  ten  years 
where  the  jungle  does  not  grow  rajjidly,  and  from  four  to  seven  years 
where  the  growth  is  quicker.”  * 

At  the  present  day,  the  tribal  differences  which  once  i^revailed  be- 
tween hoe  and  plough  culture  have  disappeared  to  a large  extent,  though 
not  so  much  as  to  escape  the  eye  of  a keen  observer,  and  the  difference 
now  chiefly  rests  on  economic  grounds,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  example 
of  Siam  where  rice  is  grown  in  hoe-culture  on  the  rude  hills,  and  by  the 
methods  of  agriculture  on  the  fertile  plains  by  the  same  population; 
the  poor  hill-people  being  simply  foreed  to  their  mode  of  life  by  sheer 
economic  necessity.  Thus,  also,  numerous  low-class  Chinese  who  took 
refuge  among  the  vdld  tribes  of  the  mountains  descended  to  their  style 
of  husbandry  as  an  easier  manipulation,  and  the  poor  colonists  on  the 
banks  of  the  Yellow  River  met  with  by  Mr.  Rockhill  must  have  been 
in  a similar  condition  of  wretchedness,  for  what  they  did  was  nothing  but 
a relapse  into  hoe-culture.  From  their  use  of  the  stone  mattock  as 
observed  by  Mr.  Rockhill, — and  we  shall  see  later  on  in  another  con- 
nection that  stone  mattocks  have  been  in  use  for  this  purpose  through- 
out the  south-east  of  Asia, — we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  the 
stone  mattock  is  the  mattock  employed  in  hoe-eulture,  and  further  that 
also  the  ancient  stone  mattocks  found  in  Shensi  and  Shantung  must 
have  been  associated  wdth  hoe-eulture.  It  follows  from  an  historical 
consideration  of  this  subject  that  these  stone  mattocks  are  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  a non-Chinese  population  which  lived  there  before  the  invasion 
of  the  Chinese  and  was  gradually  absorbed  by  them,  rather  than  to 
the  Chinese  themselves. 

All  the  specimens  from  Shantung  have  been  apparently  turned  to 
practical  purposes;  nearly  all  of  them  show  traces  of  having  been  used. 
The  two  rectangular  chisels  illustrated  in  Plate  X fairly  agree  in  shape 

' Gazetteer  of  Upper  Burma  and  the  Shan  States,  Vol.  I,  Part  I,  p.  424  (Rangoon, 
1900).  This  is  one  of  their  methods,  but  in  other  regions  wherever  they  learned 
from  their  Shan  and  Chinese  neighbors,  wet  paddy  cultivation,  i.e.  agriculture,  has 
been  introduced  among  them. 


50  Fiei.d  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

with  those  of  Shensi  and  show  the  same  straight  cutting  edge,  with 
slightly  rounded,  beveled  corners  in  Fig.  i,  where  we  find  also  the 
convex  lateral  edges. 

Figure  2 on  Plate  XI  exhibits  a similar  type,  only  that  the  blade  is 
much  broader  here.  The  hammer  in  Fig.  i of  Plate  XI  is  particularly 
interesting  as  revealing  the  stone  prototype  of  the  carpenter’s  iron 
hammer  common  all  over  China.  The  blade  starts  from  about  the 
middle  of  the  stone  and  gradually  slopes  on  both  faces  towards  the 
cutting  edge.  In  Fig.  3 of  the  same  Plate  the  back  is  oval-shaped, 
and  the  blade  does  not  occupy  the  entire  front  part,  but  is  cut  out  in 
the  way  of  an  arch;  the  cutting  edge  is  round.  Fig.  4,  Plate  XI,  evi- 
dently belongs  to  the  same  type,  but  the  blade  is  much  weathered  out. 

The  fiv'e  stone  objects  united  on  Plate  XII  seem  to  be  pestles  for 
jiounding  grain,  with  exception  of  Fig.  5.  This  is  a rough  fragment 
of  black  pebble  flattened  on  one  side  and  marked  with  a small  circle 
on  the  top;  it  was  not  found  like  the  other  stones  near  Ts'ing-chou  fu, 
but  it  came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Couling  by  purchase,  its  origin 
not  being  known;  I do  not  venture  any  theory  in  regard  to  its  possible 
use. 

The  greatest  surprise  among  the  stone  implements  of  Shantung  is 
afforded  by  the  find  of  a grooved  axe  or  hammer  of  diorite  (Plate  XIII, 
Fig.  i),  9 cm  long  and  6 cm  unde,  wdth  a deeply  furrowed  groove  run- 
ning all  around,  about  2 cm  wdde.  It  is  the  first  and  the  only  known 
type  of  this  kind  from  China,  and  of  particular  interest  to  us,  because 
it  is  a type  very  widely  spread  in  North  America.*  The  Chinese 
specimen  is  better  worked  than  any  from  America  known  to  me  and 
exhibits  a remarkable  regularity  and  proportion  of  form,  that  same 
sense  for  dimension  which  elicits  our  admiration  in  their  most  ancient 
productions  of  pottery,  metal  or  stone.  There  is  a ridge-like  projection 
over  one  side  of  the  groove. 

As  this  type  stands  alone  in  the  Chinese  field,  according  to  our 
present  state  of  knowledge,  and  is  generally  of  greatest  rarity  in  Asia, 
it  will  be  appropriate  to  detennine  its  position  by  calling  attention  to 
finds  of  a related  character  in  other  regions.  Only  one  of  this  type, 
as  far  as  I know,  has  become  known  from  India.  It  was  found  at 
Alwara,  two  miles  north  of  the  Jumna,  and  thirty-seven  miles  south- 
west of  Allahabad  by  Mr.  J.  Cockburx,  placed  together  udth  a number 
of  other  stones  under  a sacred  tree.  It  was  figured  and  described  by 

‘ The  Chinese  specimen  comes  nearest  to  that  figured  by  Th.  Wilson  in  Report 
of  National  Museum,  1888,  p.  647,  No.  72.  — Different  from  this  type  are  the  grooved 
globular  clubs  of  Scandinavia  as  described  by  Sophus  MUller  (Nordische  Alter- 
tumskunde,  Vol.  I,  p.  144),  which,  however,  seem  to  be  plummets  or  sinkers  (compare 
Wilson,  1.  c.,  p.  653,  Nos.  107,  108). 


iL  .rj 


EXPLANATION  OF  PL.  XIII. 


Fig.  I.  Grooved  Diorite  Axe  from  Shantung  Province,  in  British  Museum, 
London. 

Fig.  2.  Grooved  Quartz  Axe  from  India,  in  British  Museum,  London.  After 
Rivett-Camac. 

Fig.  3.  Grooved  Stone  Hammer  from  Saghalin.  After  lijima. 

Fig.  4.  Grooved  Stone  Hammer  of  the  Chukchi.  After  Bogoras. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XIII 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


51 


J.  H.  Rivett-Carnac,*  after  whom  it  is  here  reproduced  on  Plate  XIll, 
Fig.  2,  a and  b (upper  and  lower  faces).  The  original  is  now  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  13  cm  long  and  6.5  cm  wide.  Rivett- 
Carnac  describes  it  as  made  of  a tough,  gra\nsh  quartzite,  somewhat 
resembling  a modem  hammer  in  fonn,  being  flat  at  the  ends  and  slightly 
curved  on  the  upper  surface.  A groove  has  been  carefully  carried 
round  the  centre.  The  base  has  been  hollowed  out  with  equal  care  in 
a gouge-like  form.  The  whole  arrangement  suggests  that  the  hammer 
was  attached  by  a ligature  to  a wooden  or  withy  handle,  the  ligature 
being  kept  in  its  place  by  the  upper  groove,  while  the  lower  groove 
held  the  hammer  in  position  on  the  rounded  haft.  Mr.  Cockburn  has 
pointed  out  certain  minute  marks,  especially  on  the  lower  groove, 
which  suggest  the  possibility  of  metal  implements  having  been  used 
in  the  fashioning  of  the  hammer,  and  it  may  be  that  this  implement 
belongs  to  the  transition  stage  from  stone  to  metal,  when  metal,  though 
available,  was  scarce.  This  specimen  is  believed,  concludes  the  author, 
to  be  the  first  of  this  description  found  in  India;  he  adds  that  his  col- 
lection contains  several  other  grooved  hammers  of  a less  perfect  fonn, 
bearing  no  trace  of  metallic  tooling,  which  appear  to  be  water-worn 
pebbles  grooved  to  admit  of  being  attached  to  a withy  handle. 

Figure  3 on  Plate  XIIP  shows  a grooved  stone  hammer  found  in  a 
shell-mound  north-west  of  Korsakovsk  on  the  southern  shore  of 
Saghalin  Island  by  Dr.  lijima. 

N.  G.  Munro  (Prehistoric  Japan,  p.  140,  No.  i,  Yokohama,  1908) 
has  figured  a similar  type  from  Japan,  without  defining  the  locality 
of  the  find,  but  he  diagnoses  it  as  a sinker,®  with  the  remark:  “This 
stone  is  sometimes  described  as  a hammer,  but  those  that  I have  seen 
are  made  of  rather  friable  lava  and  would  not  stand  much  concussion. 
I have  more  than  once  seen  these  objects  jdaced  on  tomb-stones,  in 
fishing  localities.”  I do  not  believe  that  this  sup])o.sition  is  correct, 
but  think  that  Mr.  Edward  S.  Morse  (Shell  Mounds  of  Omori,  p.  15, 
and  Plate  XVII,  1-2,  Tokyo,  1879)  who  has  discovered  two  grooved 
hammers  in  these  shell-mounds  of  Ainu  origin  is  perfectly  right  in 
identifying  them  as  hammers,  and  in  sa\*ing  “it  is  hardly  probable 
that  they  were  intended  for  net  sinkers.” 

Farther  north-east,  we  find  the  grooved  stone  hammer  in  modern 
times  as  a common  household  utensil  among  the  Chukchi  (Plate 

* On  Stone  Implements  from  the  North  Western  Provinces  of  India,  p.  6 (Cal- 
cutta, 1883). 

* Derived  from  the  Journal  of  the  Anlhrop.  Soc.  of  Tokyo,  Vol.  XXI,  No.  247, 
1906. 

’ Doubtless  prompted  by  J.  Evans,  .Ancient  Stone  Implements  of  Great  Britain, 
p.  236  (Second  ed.,  London,  1897). 


52  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

XIII,  Fig.  4).  It  is  a maul  oblong  in  shape  with  a groove  all  around 
in  about  the  lower  third  of  the  stone,  to  which  a short  wooden  or  bone 
perforated  haft  is  tied  by  means  of  strong  leashings.  It  is  especially 
used  for  splitting  marrow-bones  to  extract  the  marrow,  also  for  break- 
ing all  kinds  of  bones  from  which  tallow  is  to  be  extracted,  and  for 
crushing  frozen  meat,  fish  and  blubber.  The  cru.shing  is  done  over  a 
large  flat  round  stone. ^ 

Gerard  Fowke^  has  devoted  a chapter  to  the  description  of  grooved 
axes  in  North  America  which,  according  to  him,  seem  to  be  of  general 
distribution  throughout  the  United  States,  being,  as  far  as  can  be 
learned  from  various  writers,  much  more  numerous  east  of  the  Missis- 
si]ipi  River  than  west  of  it.  But  he  is  inclined  to  think  that  no  deduc- 
tions can  be  made  concerning  their  relative  abundance  or  scarcity,  as 
collectors  have  more  diligently  searched  in  the  east  than  in  the  west. 

The  grooved  stone  hammer  does  not  sur\dve  in  any  other  object 
in  modern  China;  its  unique  occurrence  in  one  specimen  in  the  times  of 
antiquity  seems  to  show  that  it  takes  a rather  exceptional  position. 
The  finds  of  this  type  in  shell-mounds  of  Saghalin  and  Japan  which 
must  be  connected  with  the  culture  of  the  Ainu  inhabiting  this  region,  in 
addition  to  the  live  tradition  of  the  Chukchi,  prove  that  it  belongs  to  the 
Palac-asiatic,  or  as  I prefer  to  say,  North-Pacific  culture-area.  And  the 
Chuckchi  on  Bering  Strait  present  the  natural  stepping-stone  linking 
it  with  the  American  continent.  Coincidences  in  material  objects  as 
well  as  in  ideas  underlying  myths  and  traditions  finally  rest  on  historical 
causes.  Nobody  competent  to  judge  will  deny  at  jircsent  that  there 
have  been  mutual  historical  influences  between  Asia  and  America 
revealed  by  numerous  indications,  steadily  growing  as  our  knowledge 
advances.  I am  not  an  advocate  of  the  theory  that  American  cultures 
in  their  whole  range  are  derived  from  Asia;  there  was  a continuous 
undisturbed  indigenous  development  going  on  for  ages  on  this  continent 
with  a keynote  of  striking  originality  which  cannot  be  explained  by 
Asiatic  ideas.  On  the  other  hand,  human  ideas  have  never  been 
stationary,  but  mobile  and  constantly  on  the  path  of  migration.  Ideas 
have  poured  in  from  Asia  into  America,  and  from  America  into  Asia, 
in  a process  of  mutual  fertilization.  The  grooved  stone  axe  may  well 
be  claimed  as  an  autochthonous  product  of  North  America;  there  it 
occurs  in  greatest  abundance  and  in  a number  of  variations.  It  occurs 

‘ A.  E.  v.  XoRDENSKiOLD,  Die  Umsegclung  Asiens  imd  Europas,  Vol.  II,  p.  n i 
(Leipzig,  1882)  and  W.  Bogor.\s,  The  Chukchee  T,  Material  Culture,  p.  187 
(Jesup  North  Pacific  Expedition,  Vol.  VII,  1904),  from  whom  our  illustration  is 
borrowed. 

^ Stone  Art  in  Xlllth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  pp.  62-72. 
Compare  also  Moorehead,  The  Stone  Age  of  North  America,  Vol.  I,  pp.  222  et  seq., 
287  et  seq.  (Boston,  1910). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


53 


on  this  side  of*  and  beyond  Bering  Strait  as  an  every  day  household 
object,  but  otherwise  sporadically  only  in  Eastern  Asia.  Each  case 
must  be  pursued  individually,  and  attempts  at  premature  generaliza- 
tion be  suppressed,  as  very  well  outlined  by  0.  T.  Mason.^  In  other 
archaeological  types,  America  may  hav^e  borrowed  from  Asia  as  e.  g. 
the  stone  weights  from  Lower  Columbia  \"alley®  whose  shapes  and 
peculiar  handles  agree  with  the  Chinese  bronze  weights  of  theTs'in 
dynasty  (b.  c.  246-207). 

It  would  be  a premature  venture  to  attempt  to  set  a date  for  the 
stone  implements  discovered  in  Ts'ing-chou  fu.  The  material  is  too 
scanty  to  allow  of  far-reaching  conclusions.  It  is  clearly  distinguished 
in  its  character  as  surface-finds  from  the  mortuary  specimens  of  Shensi. 
Internal  evidence  might  lead  one  to  attribute  a comjjaratively  higher 
age  to  the  Shantung  stone  implements,  but  such  evidence  based  on 
considerations  of  this  kind  is  often  fallacious.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  types  represented  by  them  are  older,  but  even  this  granted,  the 
actual  specimens  under  view  may  notwithstanding  come  down  from  a 
later  ]X’riod,  because  we  have  as  yet  no  clue  as  to  the  time  when  the 
manufacture  of  such  implements  cea.sed  in  vShantung.  The  question 
as  to  the  identification  of  these  stone  implements  with  a Chinese  or  a 
non-Chinese  culture,  though  it  cannot  be  definitely  solved  at  present, 
yet  may  be  ajjproached  on  the  supposition  that  they  are  much  more 
likely  to  have  been  jjroduced  by  a non-Chinese  tribe  than  by  the 
Chinese. 

As  regards  the  type  of  the  mattock,  culture-historical  considera- 
tions switched  us  on  the  same  track.  The  history  of  Shantung 
furnishes  proof  that  the  Chinese  settlers  struck  there,  as  in  other 
territories,  an  aboriginal  poj)ulation  of  whose  culture  we  can  unfortu- 
nately form  no  clear  idea  from  the  ancient  meagre  records.  The 
region  of  Ts'ing-chou,  from  which  our  stone  implements  are  derived,  is 
said  to  have  been  inhabited  by  a tribe  called  Shuang-kiu  under  the 
Emperor  Shao-hao,  whose  time  is  dated  traditionally  at  the  26th  century 
B.  c.  Subsequently,  the  tribes  Ki-she  and  P'u-ku  take  their  place, — 
whether  these  names  simply  denote  a change  of  the  fonner  name  or  a 
new  current  of  immigration,  we  do  not  know.  The  Ki-she  belong  to 
the  time  of  the  Emperor  Shun  and  the  Hia  dynasty  (approximately 
B.  c.  23d-iQth  century).  At  the  end  of  the  Shang  dynasty  (b.  c. 
1154),  the  P'u  ku  were  counted  among  the  feudal  states  of  China; 

* For  Alaska  see,  e.  g.,  A.  P.  \’ibl.\ck.  The  Coast  Indians  of  Southern  Alaska 
{Report  of  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1888,  Plate  XXI). 

2 Migration  and  the  Food  Quest  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1894,  pp.  538-5.t9)- 

’ Harlan  I.  Smith  in  American  Anthropologist,  1906,  p.  305. 


54  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Yol.  X. 

Ch'eng  Wang,  the  second  ruler  of  the  Chou  dynasty  (b.  c.  1115-1078) 
put  an  end  to  their  rule,  when  they  rebelled  against  him.  At  the  time 
of  the  Emperor  Yii  (alleged  to  have  lived  about  b.  c.  2200),  two  bar- 
barous tribes  are  mentioned  in  the  eastern  part  of  Shantung,  the  Yii 
living  around  the  Shantung  promontory,  and  the  Lai  who  subsisted 
on  cattle-rearing  and  left  their  name  in  the  present  Lai-chou  fu.^ 

There  is  no  record  to  the  effect  that  any  of  these  tribes  availed  itself 
of  stone  implements,  but  there  is  little  on  record  regarding  them  any- 
way. The  choice  is  only  between  the  Chinese  and  the  primeval  popula- 
tion, and  the  fact  that  the  latter  has  existed  there  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Chinese  cannot  well  be  doubted.  As  the  Chinese,  when  settling  and 
spreading  in  Shantung,  were  in  the  possession  of  metal  and  bronze 
implements  and  are  silent  about  the  use  of  stone  implements  on  their 
part,  it  may  be  assumed  with  a tolerable  degree  of  certainty  that  the 
stone  implements  of  Ts'ing-chou  have  emanated  from  the  hands  of 
aboriginal  man. 

In  reviewing  the  whole  material  as  ]jresented  here,  we  may  draw 
from  it  the  following  conclusions: 

(1)  All  stone  implements  so  far  found  in  China  are  polished,  many 
of  them  elaborately  and  elegantly  polished.  Therefore,  they  belong 
to  that  class  which,  as  far  as  prehistoric  Europe,  Egypt,  India  and 
America  are  concerned,  has  been  styled  neolithic.  No  stone  of  palae- 
olithic and  eolithic  character  has  as  yet  come  to  light  in  China. 

(2)  These  implements  are  found  scattered  in  certain  parts  of  the 
country  and  are  generally  scarce.  There  are  two  groups  as  to  the 
character  of  the  finds  noticeable, — finds  on  or  immediately  beneath 
the  surface  or  in  river-beds,  and  grave-finds.  The  former  are  more 
primitive  and  rougher  in  technique,  the  latter  of  much  superior  work- 
manship. Whether  a chronological  difference  exists  between  the  two, 
it  is  hard  for  the  present  to  say;  they  may  have  been  contemporaneous, 
after  all,  the  one  for  the  practical  use  of  the  living  generation,  the  others 
for  ceremonial  and  funeral  purposes.  Local  and  tribal  differentiations 
have  to  be  equally  taken  into  account  in  this  connection. 

(3)  Chisels,  hammer-shajied  axes,  and  mattocks  are  the  prevailing 
types  thus  far  discovered. 

(4)  No  deposits  of  stone  imjdements,  so-called  work-shops,  have  as 
yet  been  found  an\nvhere  in  China  which  would  allow  the  conclusion 
that  man,  without  the  aid  of  any  metal,  depended  solely  on  stone 
utensils  at  any  time,  or  that  a stone  industry -for  the  benefit  of  a large 

^ Shu  king,  Tribute  of  Yu  6,  7.  Chavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  I,  p.  113.  I 
do  not  wish  to  refer  my  readers  to  F.  v.  Richthofen’s  Schantung  (pp.  87  el  seq.)  on 
account  of  his  obvious  errors,  as  known  to  the  initiated  (compare  Hirth,  Schantung 
und  Kiau-tschou  in  Beilage  zur  Allgemeinen  Zeitung,  1898,  Nos.  218  and  219,  where 
an  able  history  of  eastern  Shantung  is  given,  utilized  for  the  above  notes). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


55 


local  population  wa.s  carried  on  to  any  extent.  It  is  therefore,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge,  not  justifiable  to  speak  of  a stone 
age  of  China,  and  still  less,  as  we  shall  see  from  a con.sideration  of 
native  records,  of  a stone  age  of  the  Chinese. 

(5)  The  stone  implements  thus  far  found  need  not  be  credited  with 
any  exaggerated  age,  nor  is  the  tenn  “prehistoric”  applicable  to  them. 
This  term  is  not  absolute,  but  denotes  a certain  space  of  time  in  a rela- 
tive sense  requiring  a particular  definition  for  each  culture  area,  and 
varying  according  to  the  extent  in  time  of  historical  monuments  and 
records.  The  burial  of  jade  implements  was  much  practised  during 
the  historical  period  of  the  Chou  dynasty  (b.  c.  i 122-249)  and  con- 
tinued down  to  the  epoch  of  the  two  Han  dynasties  (b.  c.  206-221  a.  d.). 
While  the  jade  implements  in  our  collection  come  down  from  the  Chou 
period,  though  in  regard  to  some  it  may  be  fairly  admitted  that  they 
are  comparatively  older,  this  does  not  certainly  mean  that  jade  or 
stone  implements  sprang  up  at  just  that  time.  Their  forms  and 
conventional  make-up  undeniably  show  that  they  are  traceable  to 
older  forms  of  a more  realistic  and  le.ss  artistic  character.  This  pri- 
meval age  of  stone  implements,  however,  can  only  be  reconstructed 
artificially  on  the  basis  of  internal  evidence  furnished  by  objects  of  a 
more  recent  epoch,  or  in  other  words,  it  remains  an  hypothesis,  an 
assumption  evolved  from  logical  conclusions  of  our  mind,  pure  and 
simple.  It  is  not  a fact,  by  any  means,  but  an  idea.  The  substantial, 
tangible  facts  have  not  yet  come  to  the  fore. 

Turning  now  to  what  the  Chinese  themselves  have  to  say  regarding 
the  subject  of  stone  implements,  we  meet  with  some  allusions  to  them 
in  the  traditions  relative  to  the  culture-heroes  of  the  legendary  epoch. 
Shen-nung  is  credited  with  having  made  weapons  of  stone,  and  Huang- 
ti  some  of  jade.  This  is  simply  a construction  conceived  of  in  later 
times,  without  any  historical  value.  In  the  Tribute  of  Yii  (I'm  kung) 
embodied  in  the  Shu  king,  one  of  the  oldest  documents  of  Chinese 
literature,  the  composition  of  which  may  be  roughly  dated  at  about 
B.  c.  800,  we  read  twice  of  stone  arrow-heads  offered  as  tribute  to  the 
Emperor  Yu  (alleged  about  b.  c.  2200).  The  tribes  residing  in  the 
territory  of  the  present  province  of  Hupeh  brought  among  other  objects, 
metals  of  three  qualities,  mill-stones,  whetstones,  and  stones  from  which 
to  make  arrow-heads ; and  the  tribute  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  province 
of  Liang  (in  Shensi)  consisted  in  jade  for  resonant  stones,  iron,  silver, 
steel,  stones  from  which  to  make  arrow-heads,  and  ordinary  re.sonant 
stones.^  It  appears  from  this  account  that  these  two  groups  of  tribes 


‘Compare  Shu  king  cd.  Legge,  p.  i2i;  ed.  Couvreur,  pp.  73,  77.  Cha- 
VANXES,  Se-ma  Ts'icn,  Vol.  I,  pp.  123,  129.  G.  Schlegel,  Uranographie  chinoise, 
P-  75«- 


S6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

must  have  been  acquainted  with  and  in  the  possession  of  metals* 
which  they  offered  as  tribute;  they  cannot  have  lived,  therefore,  in 
a true  stone  period,  and  the  stone  arrow-heads  must  then  have  been 
rare  and  precious  objects,  otherwise  they  would  not  figure  in  the 
tribute-list. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  name  for  the  flint  arrow-head  appearing 
for  the  first  time  in  those  two  passages  is  a single  word  nu  (Giles 
No.  8394) ; the  written  sjnnbol  expressing  it  is  composed  of  the  classifier 
stone  and  a phonetic  element  reading  nu.  The  latter  element,  again, 
denotes  also  “a  slave,  a servant,”  so  that  the  original  meaning  “stone 
of  the  slaves”  i.  e.  stone  of  the  subjugated  tribes  may  have  been  in- 
strumental in  the  formation  of  this  character.^  There  is  further 
another  word  nu, — having  like  the  word  nu  “flint  arrow-head”  the 
third  tone  and  therefore  perfectly  identical  with  it  in  sound, — with 
the  meaning  of  “crossbow,”  the  character  being  composed  of  the 
classifier  bow  and  the  same  word  nu  “slave”  as  phonetic  complement. 
Here,  we  have  accordingly  “the  bow  of  the  slaves.”  Now,  in  the 
language  of  the  Lolo,  an  indejjendent  aboriginal  group  of  tribes  in  the 
mountain-fastnesses  of  southwestern  Sze-ch'uan,  the  crossbow  is 
called  «2<,®  and  the  crossbow  is  the  national  weapon  not  only  of  the 
Lolo,  but  of  the  whole  Afan  family,  the  remnants  of  which  are  now 
scattered  throughout  southern  China.  I am  under  the  impression  that 
the  Chinese  derived  the  cros.sbow  with  many  other  items  of  culture 

‘ The  metals  of  three  qualities  are  supposed  to  be  gold,  silver  and  copper.  The 
mention  of  iron,  I believe,  is  not  an  anachronism  as  supposed  by  Hirth  (The  Ancient 
History  of  China,  p.  237);  the  ancient  Chinese  certainly  knew  iron  ore  and  meteoric 
iron;  what  they  received  and  learned  from  the  Turks  was  not  simply  iron,  but  a 
specific  method  of  working  iron. 

^ I am  well  aware  of  how  deceitful  .such  dissections  of  characters  are,  and  how 
cautiously  any  historical  conclusions  based  on  such  analysis  must  be  taken.  The 
present  forms  of  Chinese  characters  represent  a recent  stage  of  development  teeming 
with  alterations  and  simplifications  in  comparison  with  the  older  forms;  many  of 
these  changes  are  due  to  subsequent  reflections  on,  or  modified  interpretations  of,  the 
ideas  associated  with  the  word  which  they  symbolize.  Thus,  the  present  way  of 
writing  the  word  nu  is  possibly  only  the  outcome  of  an  afterthought,  but  not  the 
original  form.  The  sinological  reader  may  be  referred  to  K'ang-hi’s  Dictionary 
where  two  old  forms  of  this  character  are  giv'en  which  evidently  show  no  connection 
with  the  modern  form.  I can  hardly  hope  to  discuss  this  question  here  without  the 
use  of  Chinese  types. 

’ Compare  Paul  Vial,  Les  Lolos,  p.  71  (Shanghai,  1898),  who  remarks:  “ Xou, 

arbalete,  ce  mot  si  singulier,  si  anti-chinois,  unique  comme  son,  vient  du  lolo  nou, 
arbal^te,  d’autant  que  cette  arme  elle-mdme  n'est  pas  d’origine  chinoi.se.”  In  his 
Dictionnaire  frangais-lolo,  p.  27  (Hongkong,  1909),  Father  Vial  gives  the  word  for 
crossbow  in  the  form  tid,  which  is  a dialectic  variant  based  on  a regular  phonetic 
alternation  between  the  vowels  a and  u in  the  Lolo  group  of  languages.  The  same 
vowel-change  takes  place  also  in  ancient  Chinese  and  in  modern  Kin-ch'uan  (Jya- 
rung)  as  compared  with  Central  Tibetan,  and  plays  such  an  important  r61e  in  Indo- 
chinese langu.iges  in  general  that  we  can  speak  of  .-1 -groups  and  Ggroups. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


57 


as  e.  g.  the  reed  pipe,*  several  kinds  of  dances  and  songs,^  the  well-known 
bronze  drums,  from  this  once  powerful  and  highly  organized  stock  of 
peoples.  In  opposition  to  the  prevalent  opinion  of  the  day,  it  cannot 
be  emjjhasized  strongly  enough  on  every  occa.sion  that  Chinese  civiliza- 
tion, as  it  appears  now,  is  not  a unit  and  not  the  exclusive  i^roduction 
of  the  Chinese,  but  the  final  result  of  the  cultural  efforts  of  a vast 
conglomeration  of  the  most  varied  tribes,  an  amalgamation  of  ideas 
accumulated  from  manifold  quarters  and  widely  differentiated  in 
space  and  time;  briefly  stated,  this  means,  China  is  not  a nation,  but 
an  empire,  a political,  but  not  an  ethnical  unit.  No  graver  error 
can  hence  be  committed  than  to  attribute  any  culture  idea  at  the 
outset  to  the  Chinese  for  no  other  reason  than  because  it  appears 
within  the  precincts  of  their  empire. 

At  all  events,  whenever  Chinese  authors  speak  of  flint  arrow-heads, 
these  generally  refer  to  foreign  non-Chinese  tribes.  Especially  the 
Su-shen,  a Tungusian  tribe  akin  to  the  later  Niiichi  and  Manchu,  are 
looked  upon  by  Chinese  tradition  as  typical  makers  and  owners  of 
such  arrow-heads.  When  the  Chou  dynasty  rose  in  power  and  ex- 
tended its  influence  into  the  far  north-east,  the  chief  of  the  Su-shen  of- 
fered as  tribute  arrows  provided  with  stone  heads  and  wooden  shafts, 
one  foot  eight  inches  long.  The  Emperor  Wu  (b.  c.  i 122-1 1 16)  caused 
the  words  “Arrow  of  the  tribe  Su-shen”  to  be  engraved  on  the  shaft 
to  transmit  the  matter  to  posterity.  Another  tradition  tells  that, 
“when  Confucius  was  in  the  kingdom  of  Ch'en  in  b.  c.  495,  the  king 
took  one  day  his  meal  on  a terrace  of  his  garden,  and  suddenly  a bird 
pierced  by  a stone  arrow  fell  down  in  front  of  him.  Confucius  when 
consulted  as  to  this  arrow  replied:  ‘The  bird  is  a sort  of  si^arrow- 
hawk  originating  from  the  land  of  the  Su-shen,  and  the  arrow-head 
resembles  that  of  the  Emperor  Wu  which  he  bestowed  as  an  emblem 
of  rank  on  the  prince  in  whose  fav’or  he  raised  the  country  of  Ch'en 
into  a kingdom.’  Thereupon  a search  was  made  in  the  arsenal  of  the 
king  where  in  fact  the  stone  arrow-head  was  found  which  the  princes 

' A musical  instrument  consisting  of  a windchest  made  of  gourd  with  a mouth- 
piece attached  to  it,  and  a series  of  tubes  or  pipes,  five  of  which  vary  in  length.  An 
interesting  article,  with  illustrations,  on  the  wind-pipes  of  the  Miao-tse  by  Ryuzo 
Torii  will  be  found  in  No.  169  of  the  Kokka  (June,  1904). 

- The  Chou  emperors  had  a special  master  of  ceremonies  called  mao  jen.  Mao 
is  a flag  made  from  the  tail  of  the  wild  ox  which  the  dancers  held  in  their  hands  as 
signals.  It  was  the  ta.sk  of  the  mao  jen  to  teach  the  foreign  dances  with  the  music 
accompanying  them.  All  people  from  the  four  directions  of  the  compass  who  had 
duties  at  court  as  dancers  were  under  his  command,  and  in  solemn  sacrifices  and 
on  the  occasion  of  visits  of  foreign  ambassadors,  representations  of  these  dances  were 
given.  The  ancient  Chinese  furnish  the  naive  explanation  that  they  were  adopted 
to  show  that  all  peoples  under  Heaven  form  only  one  empire  or  family. 


58  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

of  Ch'en  had  religiously  kcpt.”^  Though  this  is  no  more  than  an  anecdote 
ben  Irovato,  it  may  reveal  several  important  points, — that  at  the  time 
of  Confucius  flint  arrow-heads  were  no  longer  generally  known,  that 
they  were  precious  rarities  preserved  in  the  royal  treasury,  and  that 
as  early  as  the  twelfth  century  b.  c.  they  had  sunk  into  a mere  em- 
blematic significance  and  served  as  insignia  of  authority,^  and  that 
the  Su-shen,  a Tungusian  tribe,  arc  made  responsible  for  their  origin. 

Chavannes  (Sc-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  V,  p.  341)  quotes  a passage  from 
the  San  kiio  chi  to  the  effect  that  in  262  a.  d.  the  governor  of  Liao-tung 
informed  the  court  of  the  Wei  dynasty  that  the  country  of  the  Su-shen 
had  sent  as  tribute  thirty  bows,  each  three  feet  and  five  inches  long, 
and  three  hundred  arrows  udth  a point  of  stone  and  shaft  of  the  tree 
hu,  one  foot  and  eight  inches  long.  But  there  is  a still  later  reference 
to  the  use  of  flint  arrows  on  the  part  of  this  tribe. 

As  late  as  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  .a.  d.  we  hear  again  of  the 
same  Su-shen  as  being  in  possession  of  flint  arrows,  as  attested  by  a 
passage  in  the  Wei  shu,  the  Annals  of  the  Wei  dynasty  (386-532  a.  d.). 
Under  the  year  459  a.  d.  it  is  there  recorded  that  the  country  of  Su-shen 
offered  as  tribute  to  the  court  arrows  with  wooden  shafts  and  stone 
heads,  and  the  same  tribute  is  ascribed  for  the  year  488  a.  d.  to  the 
territory  of  Ki  in  the  present  P'ing-yang  fu,  Shansi  Province.  This 
account  offers  a twofold  interest  in  shovHng  that  flint  arrows  were  then 
still  held  in  reverence  by  the  Chinese  and  regarded  as  valuable  objects, 
and  in  affording  evidence  of  the  long-continued  use  of  flint  arrow- 
heads among  the  Su-shen  for  whom  we  can  thus  establish  a period 
spent  on  their  manufacture  lasting  over  a millennium  and  a half.* 

* G.  ScHLEGEL,  Uranographie  chinoise,  pp.  758,  759.  This  story  is  derived  from 
the  Kuo  yii  and  reproduced  in  the  Annals  of  Se-ma  Ts'ien  (sec  Chavannes’  transla- 
tion, Vol.  V,  p.  340)  where  a fuller  version  of  it  is  given. 

“ Bow,  arrows  and  quiver  were  conferred  upon  the  vassal  princes  by  the  emperor 
as  sign  of  investiture. 

’ Pall.adius  discovered  in  1870  a stone  hatchet  near  the  bay  of  Vladivostok. 
He  was  under  the  impression  that  it  was  made  of  nephrite;  microscopical  investiga- 
tion, however,  proved  that  the  substance  was  diorite-aphanite  (H.  Fischer,  Xephrit 
und  Jadeit,  pp.  283-284).  Palladius  drew  from  this  find  a somewhat  hazarded  con- 
clusion; he  believed  that  “it  would  decide  the  question  regarding  the  famous  stone 
arrow-heads  made  by  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Manchuria,  the  Su-sh6n,  and  their 
direct  descendants  and  successors,  the  I-lou,  Ugi  and  Mo-ho,  from  oldest  times 
down  to  the  twelfth  century.”  Palladius  evidently  labored  under  the  error  that 
the  arrow-heads  of  the  Su-shSn  were  of  nephrite.  There  is,  however,  no  account  to  this 
effect.  All  Chinese  accounts  are  unanimous  in  speaking  of  these  arrow-heads  as 
being  of  plain  stone,  and  never  use  the  word  for  jade  (yii)  in  connection  with  them. 
The  stone  hatchet  of  Vladiv'ostok  certainly  has  no  bearing  on  the  whole  question, 
and  the  further  conclusions  of  Palladius  in  regard  to,  alleged  sites  in  Manchuria  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Amur  where,  according  to  Chinese  sources,  nephrite  should 
have  been  found,  which  is  not  at  all  correct,  are  not  valid.  I am  quite  familiar 
with  the  Amur  region,  and  having  seen  a good  number  of  stone  implements  from 
there,  can  positively'  state  tb.at  no  implements  whatever  of  nephrite  have  been  found 
there. 


Feb.,  1912, 


Jade. 


59 


The  Su-shen  seem  to  have  been  a warlike  nation  at  that  time  and 
fought  two  wars  wdth  the  Japanese  in  658  and  660  a.  d.,  after  they 
had  already  settled,  in  544  a.  d.,  on  the  island  of  Sado,  west  from  Hondo 
where  they  subsisted  on  fish-catching.  Their  relations  with  Japan 
are  described  in  the  Japanese  annals,  Nihongi  (see  Aston,  Nihongi, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  58,  257,  260,  263,  264).  I here  allude  to  them  because  they 
contain  a passage  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  Su-shen  did 
not  possess  iron  at  that  time.  In  660  a.  d.  an  expedition  of  two  hun- 
dred Japanese  ships  under  Abe  no  Omi  with  some  Ainu  on  board  was 
despatched  against  twenty  ships  of  the  Su-shen.  The  Japanese  com- 
mander sent  messengers  to  summon  them,  but  they  refused  to  come. 
Then  he  heaped  up  on  the  beach  colored  silk  stuffs,  weapons,  iron,  etc., 
to  c.xcite  their  cupidity.  Two  old  men  sent  forth  by  the  Su-shen  took 
these  articles  away.  In  the  ensuing  battle  they  were  defeated, 
and  when  they  saw  during  the  fight  that  they  could  not  resist  the  power 
of  their  enemies,  put  to  death  their  waves  and  children. 

“In  the  country  of  the  I-lou,'^  they  have  bows  four  feet  long.  For 
arrow's  they  use  the  w'ood  of  the  tree  hu,"^  atrd  make  them  one  foot  eight 
inches  long.  Of  a dark  (or  green)  stone  they  make  the  arrow'-heads, 
which  are  all  j)oisoned  and  cause  the  death  of  a man  w'hen  they  hit 
him. ”3 

In  a small  treatise  on  mineralogy  YUn  lin  shih  p'li,  written  by  Tu 
Wan  in  1133  .a.  d.,'*  is  the  following  note  under  the  heading  “Stones 
for  arrow'-heads:”  “In  the  district  Sin-kan  in  the  prefecture  of  Lin- 
kiang  in  Kiang-si  Province,  there  is  a small  place  called  Pai  yang  kio 
(“Horn  of  the  white  sheep”)  ten  li  from  the  district-towTi.  There 
is  a mountain  called  Ling-yUn  ling,  on  the  summit  of  which  a plain 
stretches  level  like  a palm.  A military  out-post  was  stationed  there 
in  ancient  times,  and  everyw'here  in  the  land  occupied  by  it,  ancient 
arrow's  w'ith  sharp-pointed  blades  and  knives  have  been  ])reserved; 
examining  the  blades  of  these  knives,  it  is  still  possible  to  cut  w'ith 
them.  The  material  of  these  arrow's  and  knives  consists  of  stone; 

* A Tungusic  or  Korean  tribe  located  between  the  Fu-yii  and  the  Wo-tsii,  peoples 
inhabiting  Korea.  They  are  described  as  resembling  in  their  appearance  the  Fu-yu, 
but  speaking  a different  language;  they  were  agriculturists  without  cattle  and  sheep, 
and  pig-cultivators;  they  were  not  acquainted  with  iron;  they  wore  armor  of  skin 
covered  with  bone.  Compare  Plath,  Die  V'olker  der  Mandschurei,  pp.  75-77 
(Gottingen,  1830). 

* Bretschneider,  Botanicon  Sinicum,  Part  II,  No.  543:  an  unidentified  tree. 
Legge’s  translation  “arrow-thorn”  is  based  on  the  error  that  Confucius  on  one 
occasion  referred  to  the  famous  hu  arrows;  his  reference  is  made  only  to  the  shafts 
being  of  this  wood.  Many  Chinese  editors,  from  not  understanding  this  word, 
have  changed  it  in  the  few  passages  where  it  occurs  into  k'u  “decayed  tree;”  but 
it  is  not  plausible  that  rotten  wood  was  ever  used  for  arrow-shafts. 

’ IIou  Han  shu,  Tung  I chuan,  quoted  in  P'ei  wen  yiin  fu,  Ch.  100  A,  p.  18. 

* Reprinted  in  the  collection  Chih  pu  tsu  chai  ts'ung  shu,  Section  28;  Ch.  2,  p.  8 b. 


6o  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axth.,  Vol.  X. 

they  are  over  three  and  four  inches  in  length.  There  are  among  them 
also  short  ones  like  those  which  Confucius  under  the  name  ‘stone 
arrow-heads  with  wooden  shafts’  made  out  as  objects  of  the  tribe  of 
Su-shen.  [Then  follow  the  quotations  from  the  Yii  kung  above  re- 
ferred to.]  In  the  Ch'un  Ts'iu  period  ( b.  c.  722-481)  they  were 
collected  in  the  palace  of  the  state  of  Ch'en  in  such  a way  that  the 
wooden  shafts  were  perforated  and  strung;  the  stone  arrow-head  of 
these  was  one  foot  and  eight  inches  long.  There  are,  further,  stone 
coats-of-mail  consisting  of  scales  (“leaves”)  like  tortoise-shells,*  but 
somewhat  thicker.  There  are  stone  axes  as  big  as  a palm,  the  wooden 
hafts  of  which  have  been  pierced  to  enable  convenient  carrying.  They 
are  all  dark  (or  green)  colored  and  hard;  when  struck,  they  emit  sounds.” 

Ch'ang  K'ii,  the  author  of  ancient  records  relating  to  Sze-ch'uan 
Ulna  yang  kuo  chi)  written  at  the  time  of  the  Tsin  dynasty  (265-313 
A.  u.)  mentions  stone  arrow-heads  in  the  district  of  T'ai-teng  (Sze- 
ch'uan  Province),  on  a mountain  situated  on  a lake  Ma  hu  (“Horse 
Lake”)  into  which  a small  river  Sun  shut  or  Pai  sha  kiang  (“White- 
sand  River”)  falls.  “When  these  arrow-heads  arc  burnt  by  fire,  they 
will  harden  like  iron.”^  Johan  Neuhoff  (Die  Gesantschaft  der 
Ost-Indischen  Gesellschaft,  p.  318,  Amsterdam,  1669)  tells  of  a peculiar 
kind  of  stone  found  on  the  mountain  Tiexe  near  K'ien-kiang  in  Sze- 
ch'uan;  when  heated  by  fire,  iron  pours  out  of  them  well  suited  for 
sabres  and  swords. 

In  the  great  archaeological  work  edited  by  the  two  brothers  Feng 
in  1822,  the  Kin-shih  so  {kin  so,  Vol.  2),  three  stone  arrow-points  with 
inscriptions  are  published  (reproduced  in  Fig.  8).  In  the  upper  one  on 
the  left  an  ancient  form  of  the  character  yu  “right”  is  engraved,  in 
the  one  on  the  right  the  s^unbols  for  the  two  numerals  “eight”  and 
“thousand;”  in  the  lower  arrow-head  the  character  t'ung  “together” 
ap])ears  in  relief,®  while  the  lower  face  of  the  same  specimen  figured 
beside  it  is  M-ithout  character.  The  Chinese  editors  do  not  express  an 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  these  s\Tnbols ; maybe  they  merely 
take  the  place  of  property  marks,  if  they  are  not,  which  is  even  worse, 
collectors’  marks  only.  I hardly  believe  that  they  originated  contem- 

* The  Shih  i ki  written  by  Wang  Ki.a  in  the  fourth  century  records:  “In  the 

first  year  of  the  period  T'ai  shih  (265  a.  d.)  of  the  Tsin  dynasty,  men  of  the  country 
of  Pin-se  came  to  court  with  clothing  adorned  with  jade  in  five  colors,  in  the  style 
of  the  present  coats-of-mail  (t.  e.  jade  plaques  were  fastened  to  the  coat  as  metal 
plaques  in  an  armor).  Further  the  country  of  Po-ti  presented  a ring  of  black  jade 
in  color  resembling  lacquer.” 

* Quoted  in  P'ei  wen  yun  fu,  Ch.  100  A,  p.  29  b. 

’ As  shown  by  its  black  color  in  the  reproduction,  whereas  the  two  others  are 
white.  The  illustrations  were  made  from  rubbings  of  the  specimens. 


Fig.  8. 

Three  Stone  Arrow-Heads  (from  Kin-shih  so). 


62  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axtii.,  Vol..  X. 

porancously  wnth  these  arrow-heads.  There  is  no  testimony  that  the 
Chinese  themseh^es  ever  made  practical  use  of  flint  arrows,  and  if  we 
want  to  suppose  such  a 'period  in  their  culture,  it  must  certainly  be 
far  back  in  times  antedating  the  invention  of  writing.  It  will  therefore 
be  more  reasonable  to  argue  that  these  flint  arrow-heads  were  inciden- 
tally found  by  Chinese,  and  that  some  one  wnth  antiquarian  tastes 
had  these  characters  engraved  in  them.  This  would  not  be  an  unprec- 
edented case,  for  there  arc  numerous  examples  for  Such  procedures. 
Especially  in  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736-1795)  when  a mania  for 
antique  scripts  broke  out,  numberless  genuine  ancient  objects  fell 
victims  to  this  fashion  and  were  covered  with  date-marks  and  other 
inscriptions  of  archaic  style.  Bronze  swords  and  other  weapons,  tiles, 
and  jades  were  the  favorite  objects  of  such  improvement,  so  that  this 
period  is  apt  to  become  the  crux  of  the  archieologist.  The  text  of  the 
editors  says:  “Arrow-heads  with  points  of  stone  and  inscribed.  They 
are  certainly  objects  of  great  rarity  {lit.  not  easily  seen  or  found). 
The  two  upper  specimens  were  obtained  by  Yeh  Tung-k'ing;  the  one 
below  by  Kuei  Wei-ku  in  Ming-fu  (ancient  name  for  Ning-po).”  As 
shown  by  the  black  ink,  the  reproductions  were  made  by  means  of 
rubbings  and  accordingly  teach  nothing  about  the  character  of  the 
surface  of  the  specimens;  we  only  receive  a glimpse  of  their  outlines 
which  arc  j^resumably  correct.  We  are  surprised  at  the  gracefully 
elegant  shapes  of  the  two  upper  specimens,  as  are  rarely,  if  at  all, 
found  in  flint  arrow-heads;  they  convey  the  impression  that  thev  are 
imitations  of  bronze  arrow-heads,  to  which  also  the  long  tangs  seem  to 
point.  Indeed,  when  glancing  over  the  pages  of  the  Kin-shih  so,  I had 
many  times  taken  these  illustrations  for  bronze  arrow-heads,  until 
the  reading  of  the  editorial  comment  convinced  me  of  my  error.  The 
twin  tips  in  the  upper  specimen  on  the  right  are  also  striking,  and  I 
am  not  aware  of  any  analogous  example  to  this  phenomenon  in  other 
flint  arrows.  The  lower  specimen  seems  to  be  a lance-head  rather  than 
an  arrow-head.  The  two  brothers  Feng  were  immensely  capable  and 
ingenious  archasologists,  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  suspect  that  thev 
became  the  victims  of  a mystification  in  this  case.  While  I am  inclined 
to  regard  the  characters  as  epigone  additions,^  I think  of  the  objects 
themselves  as  authentic,  but  as  having  been  made  in  a bronze  period 
as  reproductions  of  bronze  arrow-heads  presumably  for  use  as  amulets, 
as  far  as  the  first  two  arc  concerned. 

As  regards  stone  hatchets,  we  saw  them  mentioned  by  Tu  W.\x 
in  1133  A.  D.  But  there  are  some  earlier  records  of  such  finds. 

' These  are  not  forgeries  in  Chinese  estimation,  but  improvements  or  embellish- 
ments. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


63 


Jade. 

In  the  fourth  \ear  of  the  period  Tn-niing  (460  .v.  d.)  the  governor 
of  Su-chou,i  Liu  Tao,  dcseended  into  the  river  Pien  and  found  a hatchet 
of  white  jade  which  he  presented  to  the  Emperor.^ 

During  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Su-tsung  (756-762  a.  d.)  of  the 
T ang  dvmasty,  a Buddhist  ]>riest,  Ni-chen-ju  by  name,  made  a present 
to  the  Emperor  of  eight  precious  objects  which  he  alleged  to  have 
received  from  Heaven  for  transmission  to  the  Son  of  Heaven.  The 
sixth  of  these  was  styled  “Stones  of  the  God  of  Thunder.”  It  consisted 
of  two  pieces  having  the  shapes  of  hatchets,  about  four  inches  long  and 
over  an  inch  wide;  they  were  not  perforated  and  hard  like  green  jade.® 

Tuan  Cii'^:NG-SHm,  the  author  of  the  Yu  yang  Isa  tsu,  who  died  in 
863  A.  D.,  mentions  stone  axes  occurring  in  a river  in  the  district  of 
I-tao  which  is  the  ancient  name  for  1-tu  in  King-chou  fu,  Hupeh; 
some  of  them  as  big  as  ordinary  (copper)  axes,  others  small  like  a peck 
(/ch).‘ 

It  seems  that  actual  use  of  primitive  jade  axes  was  still  made  at  the 
court  of  the  Mongol  emperors  in  Peking;  for,  as  Palladius®  pointed  out, 
T’ao  Tsung-i  who  wrote  the  interesting  work  Ch'o  keng  lu  at  the  close 
of  the  Yuan  dynasty,  mentions  two  life-guards  standing  next  to  the 
Khan  who  held  in  their  hands  “natural”  axes  of  jade.  P.alladius 
adds  that  the}'  were  axes  found  fortuitously  in  the  ground,  probably 
primitive  weapons.’ 

Li  vShih-chen,  the  great  naturalist  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
summed  up  the  knowledge  of  his  time  regarding  ancient  stone  imple- 
ments in  his  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu  (Section  on  Stones,  Ch.  10)  as  follows. 
He  comprises  them  under  the  generic  term  p'i-li  clien  (or  ts'en)  which 
means  “stones®  originating  from  the  crash  of  thunder.”  Before  giving 
his  own  notes,  he  quotes  Ch'en  Tsang-k'i,  the  author  of  a Materia 
mcdica  under  the  T'ang  dynasty  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighth  century 
as  saying:  “Suchlike  objects  have  been  found  by  people  who  explored 
a locality  over  which  a thunderstorm  had  swept,  and  dug  three  feet 
in  the  ground.  They  are  of  various  shapes.  There  arc  those  resem- 
bling choppers  and  others  like  files.  There  are  some  pierced  with  two 

* In  Kiang-su  Province. 

^ Sung  shu,  fu  jui  chi  (quoted  in  P'ei  wen  yiin  fu,  Ch.  100  p.  213  a). 

’ G.  ScHLEGEL,  /.  C.,  p.  760. 

Quoted  in  P'ei  wen  yiin  fu,  Ch.  loo  A,  p.  30  b. 

5 Elucidations  of  Marco  Polo’s  Travels  in  North-China  {Journal  China  Branch 
R.  Asiatic  Society,  Vol.  X,  1875,  p.  43). 

® The  word  chen  (Giles  No.  626)  is  properly  a flat  smooth  stone  block  as  occurring 
on  the  bank  of  a river  or  brook  used  by  women  to  beat  clothes  on  when  washing 
them.  Li  Shih-chSn  remarks  that  of  old  this  word  was  written  with  the  character 
chin  meaning  “needle”  (Giles  No.  613)  “which  is  an  insignificant  mistake;”  but 
maybe  stone  needles  really  existed  in  ancient  times. 


64  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

holes.  Some  say  that  they  come  from  Lei-chou  in  Kuang-tung*  and 
from  Tse-cliou  fu  in  Shansi  {IIo  lung  shan)  where  they  have  been  found 
after  a storm  with  lightning  and  thunder.  Many  resemble  an  axe. 
They  arc  dark  (or  green)  in  color  with  black  streaks  and  hard  like  jade. 
It  is  stated  by  several  that  these  arc  stone  implements  made  by  man 
and  presented  to  the  celestial  deities,  a matter  the  truth  of  which  1 
ignore.” 

Now  Li  Shih-chen  himself  takes  the  word:  “The  Book  on  Light- 
ning {Lei  shu)  says:  ‘The  so-called  thunder-axes  are  like  ordinary 
axes  made  of  copper  or  iron.  The  thunder  washing-blocks  {lei  chen) 
resemble  those  of  stone  in  real  use;  they  are  purple  and  black  in  color. 
The  thunder  hammers  weigh  several  catties.  The  thunder  gimlets 
are  over  a foot  in  length,  and  are  all  like  steel.  They  have  been  used 
by  the  God  of  Thunder  in  splitting  things  open  or  in  striking  objects. 
The  thunder  rings  arc  like  jade  rings;  these  have  been  worn  as  girdle- 
ornaments  by  the  God  of  Thunder  and  have  subsequently  fallen  down. 
The  thunder  beads  are  those  which  the  divine  dragon  {shen  lung)  had 
held  in  its  mouth  and  dropped.  They  light  the  entire  house  at  night.’ 
— In  the  Po  u'u  chi  (a  work  by  Chang  Hua,  232-300  a.  d.)  it  is  said: 
‘Fine  stones  in  the  shape  of  small  axes  are  frequently  seen  among  the 
people.  They  are  styled  axes  of  the  crash  of  thunder  {p'i-li  fu)  or 
wedges  of  the  crash  of  thunder  {p'i-li  hieh).’ — In  the  lliuan  chung  ki 
(by  Kuo-siiiii  of  the  fifth  century)  it  is  narrated:  ‘West  of  Yii-men 
(near  Tun-huang,  Kansu)  there  is  a district  with  a mountain  on  which 
a temple  is  erected.  There  the  people  of  the  country  annually  turn 
out  gimlets  to  offer  to  the  God  of  Thunder  as  a charm  against  lightning. 
This  is  a false  practice,  for  thunder  partakes  of  the  two  forces  of  Yin 
and  Yang  (the  female  and  male  power)  and  has  accordingly  a loud  and 
a low  voice,  so  that  it  can  produce  in  fact  divine  objects  {shen  U'u). 
Thus,  numerous  objects  come  to  light  out  of  hidden  places,  like  axes, 
gimlets,  washing-stones,  hammers,  which  are  all  real  things.^  If  it  is 
said  that  in  Heaven  conceptions  arise,  and  that  on  earth  forms  arise,* 
we  have  an  example  in  stars  falling  down  on  earth  and  being  stones 
there.  And  so  it  happens  that  it  rains  metal  and  stone,  millet  and 
wheat,  hair  and  blood,  and  other  queer  things  assuming  shape  on 
earth.  There  are  certainly  in  the  universe  {lit.  the  great  void)  divine 

* The  name  Lei-chou  means  Thunder-City.  Whether  it  received  this  name  from 
the  finds  of  thunder-stones,  or  whether  it  is  credited  with  the  latter  for  the  sake  of 
its  name,  I cannot  decide.  The  God  of  Thunder  is  much  worshipped  in  that  pre- 
fecture (Hirth,  Chinesische  Studien,  p.  140;  Cl.  Madrolle,  Hai-nan  et  la  cote  con- 
tinentale  voisine,  p.  79,  Paris,  1900). 

* Compare  Memoires  concernant  les  Chinois,  Vol.  IV,  p.  474. 

’Quotation  from  Ft  king. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade.  65 

objects  which  can  be  utilized.  There  was,  e.  g.,  Su  Shao  at  the  time 
of  the  Ch’dn  dynasty  (557-58?  a.  d.)  who  had  a thunder  hammer 
weighing  nine  catties.  At  the  time  of  the  Sung  (960-1278  a.  d.),  there 
lived  Shen  Kua*  who  found  during  a thunder-storm  under  a tree  a 
thunder  wedge  resembling  an  axe,  but  not 
perforated.  The  actions  of  the  spirits  arc 
and  cannot  indeed  be  fully  investi- 
gated.” 

It  will  be  seen  that  Li  Shih-chen  does 
not  divulge  his  own  opinion  on  the  subject, 
but  is  content  with  citing  his  predecessors. 

W e notice  that  the  almost  universal  belief 
in  thunderbolts  presumably  suggested  by 
falls  of  meteors  and  shooting-stars  prevails 
also  in  China.^  Fig.  9 is  reproduced  from 
the  Phi  ts'ao  and  exhibits  six  sketches  in 
outline  of  implements  mentioned  in  the 
article,^— from  left  to  right  explained  as 
wedge,  axe,  gimlet,  inkcake,  pellet,  and 
washing-stone,  the  latter  rather  looking 
like  a club  than  an  anvil.  Regarding  the 
so-called  inkcake,  Li  Shih-chen  has  the  following  additional  remark: 
“The  Book  on  Lightning  {Lei  shu)  says:  ‘Every  lightning  writes  in 
wood  and  stone  which  are  then  called  ivooden  writing-tablets  (mu  cha). 
The  writing  is  two  or  three-tenths  of  an  inch  deep  of  dark-yellow  hue. 
Others  say  that  flowers  of  sulphur,  indigo-blue  and  vermilion  are  com- 
bined in  the  writing  of  the  documents  of  lightning.  Again,  others 
say  that  it  is  grease  from  the  stones  of  Mount  P'eng-lai  to  furnish  this 


m 

0 

n 

1 

0 

IS 

Fig.  g. 

Stone  Implements 
(from  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu). 

u-  of  the  Meng  ki  pi  fan  who  lived  from  1030  to  1093  (Giles,  Biogra- 
phical Dictionary,  No.  1691).  He  expresses  himself  in  this  book  as  follows:  “The 

people  of  the  present  time  have  found  numerous  thunder  hatchets  and  thunder 
wedges,  m all  cases,  after  a thunderstorm.  Of  the  thunder  hatchets,  many  are  made 

of  yon  and  copper;  the  wedges  are  of  stone  and  resemble  hatchets,  but  are  not 
perforated. 

2 R.  Andree  (Ethnographische  Parallelen,  Neue  Folge,  pp.  30-41)  offers  a series 
of  notes  on  the  propagation  of  this  idea. — The  term  thunderbolt  is  not  limited  to 
stone  implements,  but  is  also  applied  to  those  of  bronze.  In  1 902 1 obtained  two  bronze 
spearheads  and  three  bronze  chisels  excavated  near  the  ancient  city  of  Shao-hing 
m Chekiang  Province  through  Mr.  Gilbert  Walshe  (see  Journal  China  Branch  R. 
A statK  Society,  Vol.  XXXIII,  p.  92).  In  a letter,  dated  Shanghai,  June  31,  1902. 
Mr.  Walshe  then  remarked:  “The  so-called  thunderbolts  are,  I imagine,  really 

bronze  chisels  of  a bronze  age,  I will  not  say  the  bronze  age,  — and  are  said  to  be 
lound  buried  in  the  earth  some  three  feet  beneath  the  spot  where  a man  has  been 
struck  by  thunder’  (according  to  the  Chinese  ideas).” 

’ Reproduced  also  by  F.  de  Mf ly,  Les  pierres  de  foudre  chez  les  Chinois  et  les 
p 1895,  p.  5 of  the  reprint)  and  Les  lapidaires  chinois, 


66  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

writing-material.  In  Lci-chou  every  thunderstorm  is  connected  with 
a big  downpour  of  rain  in  which  large  objects  like  sandstones  fly  down 
and  small  ones  like  bits  of  stones,  others  in  the  shape  of  fingers,  hard 
like  stone,  of  black  color,  lustrous  and  very  heavy.’ — Liu  Sun  says  in 
his  book  Ling  piao  lu  (T'ang  dynasty):  ‘In  Lei-chou,  after  a rain, 
men  have  frequently  found  in  desert  places  stones  like  jet*  which  they 
call  inkcakcs  of  the  God  of  Thunder;  when  struck,  they  yield  a sound 
like  metal;  they  are  of  bright  lustre  and  nice.’ — Li  Chao  narrates  in 
his  book  Kuo  shih  pu  (beginning  of  ninth  century):  ‘Thunderstorms 
abound  in  Lei-chou.  At  the  advent  of  the  autumn  they  cease,  and  it 
looks  as  if  thunder  would  then  hibernate  in  the  soil.  The  people  dig 
it  up,  take  and  eat  it,  and  in  view  of  this  fact,  such  objects  appear  as 
the  fruits  of  thunder.’ 

These  “inkcakes”  are  doubtless  natural  productions,  and  not 
wrought  stone.  Soft  stones  available  for  writing  with  are  frequently 
mentioned.  Johan  Neuhof  (Die  Gesantschaft  der  Ost-Indischen 
Gesellschaft,  p.  317,  Amsterdam,  1669)  alludes  to  a stone  found  near 
Nan-hing  in  Kuang-tung  Province  “very  similar  in  color  to  Chinese 
ink,  by  means  of  w’hich  the  Chinese  write  on  w-hite  polished  boards  in 
the  same  manner  as  Europeans  with  chalk.” 

The  thunder  stones  have  also  an  artistic  or  ornamental  function 
in  a curious  w'ood -engraving  inserted  in  the  Fang-shih  mo  p'u  (published 
in  1588)  and  here  reproduced  in  Fig.  10.  Six  so-called  “precious 
objects  of  good  omen”  are  there  united  in  a circular  zone  on  a back- 
ground of  cloud-ornaments.  On  the  right  side,  two  hatchets  will  be 
recognised  w’hich  are  explained  as  “thunder  stones.”  The  other 
objects  are:  below,  two  hooks  by  means  of  w'hich  the  empress  cuts 
the  leaves  of  the  mulberry-tree,®  a jade  seal,  beads  of  the  w'hite  coral 
called  lang-kan*  the  red  jew'el  called  mo-ho,  and  the  precious  pearl 
granting  every  wish. 

Li  Shih-chen  refers  in  another  passage  also  to  acupuncture  needles 
having  been  made  of  stone  in  ancient  times.  They  are  called  pien 
shih  (Giles  No.  9194)  or  chen  shih  (No.  610).  His  note  runs  as  follows: 

1 See  Laufer,  Historical  Jottings  on  Amber  in  Asia,  pp.  222-225. 

^In  the  Wu  li  siao  shih  by  Fang  I-chih  (Hirth,  T'oung  Pao,  Vol.  VI,  p.  428) 
it  is  said  that  thunder  assumes  the  shape  of  a swine  in  the  ground.  Hirth  (Chinesi- 
sche  Studien,  p.  158)  thinks  that  a plant  like  a truffle  is  understood. 

’This  is  an  ingenious  instrument  combining  the  two  functions  of  a hook  and  a 
cutter.  Those  which  I have  seen  in  central  China  were  in  the  shape  of  a small 
scythe  to  the  back  of  w'hich  a projecting  hook  is  attached.  The  instrument  is 
provided  with  a socket  into  which  a long  bamboo  Stick  is  inserted.  The  farmer  uses 
the  hook  to  seize  and  bend  down  towards  himself  the  branches  of  the  mulberry-tree, 
and  when  they  are  within  easy  reach,  he  cuts  them  off  with  the  scythe-like  knife. 

^ See  Chavannes,  T'oung  Pao,  1907,  p.  182;  Forke,  Milteilungen  des  Seminars, 
Vol.  \TI,  1904,  p.  148. 


I 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade.  67 

“The  Tung  sJian  king  says:  ‘The  mountains  of  Kao-shUt  and  Fii-li 
abound  in  the  stone  for  acupuncture  needles.’  Kuo  P'o  (276-324  a.  d.) 
remarks  in  his  commentary  to  the  dictionary  Erh-ya  that  instead  of 
pien  also  chen  can  be  written. — The  medical  work  Su  wen  i fa  Jang  i 
lun  says:  ‘In  the  regions  of  the  eastern  quarter  there  is  a place  where 
salt  is  fished  from  the  sea.  The  water  along  the  beach  of  the  sea  is 


Fig.  10. 

Stone  Hatchets  in  Ornamental  Composition  (from  Fang-shih  mo  p'u). 


wholesome  in  the  cure  of  sores  and  ulcers  and  conveys  its  beneficial 
effects  to  the  acupuncture  stones;  hence  the  latter  come  also  from  the 
eastern  region. — Wang  Ping,  a physician  of  the  eighth  century,  states 
in  his  commentary  (to  the  Iluang-ti  su  wen)\  ‘The  stones  called  pien 
are  like  jade  and  may  be  called  also  needles  {chen).  The  ancients 
made  the  acupuncture  needles  of  stone;  the  more  recent  generations 
substituted  iron  for  the  stone.  The  people  of  the  present  time  use  a 
porcelain  needle  to  perform  acupuncture  on  the  same -principle  derived 
from  the  stone  needles.  Only  we  do  not  know  any  longer  the  stone 


68  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antil,  Vol.  X. 

used  in  acupuncture  (no  specimens  having  come  down  to  us),  but  it 
may  be  supposed  that  it  belonged  to  the  class  of  stone  from  which 
arrow-heads  were  made.’ 

In  some  localities,  “stones  of  the  Thunder-God”  of  special  fame 
are  pointed  out.  Thus,  e.  g.,  according  to  the  Imperial  Geography 
{Ta  Ts'ing  i i'ung  chi),  there  is  in  the  north-west  of  the  city  of  Nan- 
feng  in  Kiang-si  Province  a summit  in  the  shape  of  a lotus-flower 
{Lien  hua  feng),  on  the  top  of  which  there  is  a stone  of  the  Thunder- 
God.  Also  the  Emperor  K'ang-hi  shows  himself  familiar  with  thunder- 
bolts in  his  Jottings  on  Natural  Science  (translated  in  Memoires  con- 
cernant  les  Chinois,  Vol.  IV,  p.  474,  Paris,  1779);  he  says  that  their 
shapes  and  materials  vary  according  to  the  localities,  and  that  the 
nomadic  Mongols,  whereby  he  understands  Alongols  proper  and 
Tungusians  on  the  eastern  sea-coasts,  avail  themselves  of  such  im- 
plements in  the  manner  of  copper  and  steel;  some  are  shaped  like 
hatchets,  others  like  knives,  and  some  like  mallets,  some  of  blackish, 
and  others  of  greenish  color. 

It  is  a favorite  idea  inferred  a priori  that  stone  implements  must  be 
infinitely  old  and  called  prehistoric.  For  stone  implements  found  on 
Chinese  soil  at  least,  this  is  merely  illusory,  as  we  have  trustworthy 
historical  accounts  relating  to  the  manufacture  of  such  implements 
in  comparatively  recent  time.  Thus,  e.  g.,  it  is  recorded  in  the  geo- 
graphical work  Iluan  yii  ki  written  by  Lo  Siii  at  the  end  of  the  tenth 
century  that  the  people  in  the  present  locality  of  T'eng  hien  (in  Wu- 
choii  fu,  Kuang-si  Province)  manufacture  knives  and  swords  of  a 
dark-colored  (or  green)  stone  (ts'ing  shih)  of  which  their  women  turn 
out  armlets  and  rings ; with  the  fonner,  it  takes  the  place  of  iron  and 
copper,  with  the  latter  of  pearls  and  gems.^  This  notice  would  become 
one  of  importance,  if  stone  objects  of  this  description  would  ever  turn 
up  in  that  district  which,  without  any  additional  evidence,  would 
have  to  be  dated  in  the  tenth  century  a.  d. 

There  are  even  still  more  recent  accounts  of  stone  implements 
actually  manufactured.  Johan  Neuiiof  (Die  Gesantschaft  dc'r  Ost- 
Indischen  Gesellschaft,  p.  317,  Amsterdam,  1669)  mentions  the  occur- 
rence near  the  city  of  Nan-hing  in  Kuang-tung  Province  of  a kind  of 
stones  so  hard  that  the  inhabitants  can  make  from  them  hatchets  and 

* Then  follows  a note  concerning  flint  arrow-heads  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
reproduce,  as  we  are  familiar  with  its  contents.  It  is,  however,  interesting  to  see  that 
to  Li  Shih-chfin  the  flint  arrow-heads  come  only  from  the  country  of  the  Su-sh6n. 

^The  same  account  is  given  also  in  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu  (Section  on  Stones, 
Ch.  10,  p.  36 b)  where  the  clause  is  added;  “The  people  of  that  district,  in  bringing 
a field  under  cultivation,  use  a knife  (t.  e.  mattock)  made  of  stone  and  over  a foot 
long.” 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


69 


knives.  The  statement  of  the  same  tenor  made  by  Grosier  (De- 
scription g^ndrale  de  la  Chine,  Vol.  I,  p.  19 1,  Paris,  1818)  seems  to  go 
back  to  that  source. ^ There  is,  in  my  opinion,  not  the  faintest  reason 
to  connect  these  modem  manufactures  wdth  the  idea  of  a stone  age 
or  even  to  consider  them  as  survivals ; they  are  merely  the  outcome  of 
chance  and  convenience.  Hundreds  of  utensils  are  turned  out  of  stone 
by  the  Chinese,  so  that  there  is  no  wonder  that  occasionally  and  sporad- 
ically also  a knife  or  a hatchet  is  listed  among  these  objects,  when  a 
suitable  material  offers. 

After  having  surveyed  the  existing  material  and  the  records  of  the 
Chinese,  it  may  be  well  to  go  back  to  the  assertion  which  several  authors 
have  made  in  regard  to  a stone  age  of  China,  some  ver\'  positively, 
others  more  guardedly  by  merely  pointing  to  the  possibility  of  this 
case.  In  view  of  the  scanty  material  before  them,  there  is  certainly 
occasion  to  admire  the  courage  of  such  writers.  As  early  as  1870, 
Edward  T.  Stevens  (Flint  Chips,  p.  116)  who  knew  of  ju.st  one  stone 
adze  from  China  exhibited  in  the  Christy  Collection,  London,  wrote: 
ySt.  Julien  has  extracted  passages  from  different  Chinese  works  which 
prove  the  existence  of  a stone  age  in  China.  Not  only  are  arrow-heads 
and  hatchets  of  stone  noticed,  but  also  agricultural  implements  made 
of  the  same  material.”  Julien  can  hardly  be  made  responsible  for 
these  notes  which  consist  of  four  brief  and  incomplete  references;  they 
were  communicated  by  him  to  Chevreul  who  published  them  under 
the  title  “Note  historique  sur  l’%e  de  pierre  a la  Chine”  {Comples 
rendus  de  V Academic  des  Sciences,  Vol.  LXIII,  pp.  281-285,  Paris, 
1866).  But  as  one  swallow  does  not  make  a summer,  one  stone  adze 
does  not  yet  go  to  make  a stone  age,  and  four  literary  allusions  of 
recent  date  do  not  help  much  to  support  it. 

R.  Andree  (Die  Metalle  bei  den  Naturvolkem,  p.  103,  Leipzig, 
1884)  says:  “However  early  and  highly  developed  the  knowledge  of 
metals  appears  among  the  Chinese,  yet  this  people  does  not  make  an 
exception  and  has  had  like  all  other  peoples  a stone  period;  it  even 
seems  that  in  some  provinces  stone  implements  were  used  in  compara- 
tively recent  times.”  Andree  justly  calls  attention  to  the  aborigines 
in  the  south  and  south-west  among  whom  stone  implements  may  have 
been  longest  in  use. 

Sir  John  Lubbock  (Prehistoric  Times,  fifth  ed.,  p.  3)  is  inclined 
to  assume  that  the  use  of  iron  was  in  China  also  preceded  by  bronze, 
and  bronze  by  stone;  and  M.  Hoernes  (Urgeschichte  der  Menschheit, 
p.  92)  strikes  the  same  note  by  saying:  “The  remains  of  a stone  age 

•The  same  author  (Vol.  I,  p.  439)  asserts:  For  the  rest  none  of  those  ancient 

cutting  stones  wrought  to  supplant  the  use  of  iron  are  found  in  China;  at  least,  the 
present  literati  have  never  heard  of  such. 


70  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

which  has  passed  long  ago  are  preserved  in  the  soil  of  China;  in  this 
great  empire,  there  are  provinces  where  not  so  long  ago  axes  and  cut- 
ting instruments  were  made  of  hard  stone,”  etc. 

Giglioli  (/.  c.),  as  shown  by  the  very  title  of  his  article,  and  C. 
PuiN’i^  have  taken  the  same  stand. 

Prof.  Hirth  has  adopted  a special  platform  (The  Ancient  History 
of  China,  p.  236),  and  his  argument  deserves  a hearing,  as  it  is  based 
on  a discourse  of  the  philosopher  Kuan-tse.  Hirth  believes  that 
“this  philosopher  was  fully  conscious  of  the  extent  and  sequence  of 
cultural  periods  in  high  antiquity,  knowledge  of  which,  as  the  result 
of  scientific  reasoning,  is  a comparatively  recent  acquisition  vHth  west- 
erners.” The  words  of  the  philosopher  are  then  construed  to  mean 
that  the  time  of  the  primeval  emperors  (about  b.  c.  3000)  was  a stone 
age  in  which  weapons  were  made  of  stone  and  were  used  for  splitting 
wooden  blocks  for  the  construction  of  dwellings,  and  that  this  first 
period  is  followed  by  a second  age  extending  from  about  b.  c.  2700- 
2000  in  which  jade  was  used  for  similar  purposes.  “This  may  be 
compared,”  adds  Hirth,  “to  our  neolithic  period,  when  hatchets  and 
arrow-heads  were  made  of  polished  stone,  either  jade  or  flint.”  All 
Chinese  philosophers  evince  a great  predilection  for  evolutionary 
theorizing  which  appears  as  the  mere  outcome  of  subjective  speculation 
and  cannot  stand  comparison  with  the  njethods  and  results  of  our 
inductive  science;  deduction  there,  and  induction  on  this  side,  make 
all  the  difference.  It  is  impossible  to  assume  that  the  Chinese  specula- 
tors of  later  days  should  have  preserved  the  memory  of  cultural  events 
and  developments  which  must  lie  back,  not  centuries,  but  millenniums 
before  their  time.  Just  the  intentional  interpretation  of  an  evolution 
read  into  the  past  which  looks  so  pleasant  on  the  surface  is  the  strongest 
evidence  for  the  fact  that  this  is  a purely  personal  and  arbitrarv  con- 
struction or  invention,  not  better  than  the  legend  of  the  golden,  silver 
and  iron  ages.  Thus,  I cannot  agree  either  with  Hirth  (/.  c.,  pp.  13, 
14)  in  regarding  the  traditions  clustering  around  the  ancient  emperors 
as  s\Tnbolizing  “the  principal  phases  of  Chinese  civilization”  or  their 
names  as  “representatives  of  the  preparatory  periods  of  culture.” 
They  are,  in  my  opinion,  culture-heroes  (IJeilbringer)  of  the  same  type 
as  found  among  a large  number  of  primitive  peoples,  downright  mythical 
creations  which  have  no  relation  whatever  to  the  objective  facts  of 
cultural  development.  Reality  and  tradition  are  two  different  things, 
and  the  thread  connecting  reality  wdth  tradition  is  usually  very  slender. 
Nowhere  has  the  history  of  reality  been  so  evolved  as  traditional  or 

* Le  origini  della  civilt^  secondo  la  tradizione  e la  storia  nell’  Estremo  Oriente, 
p.  163  {Pubblicazioni  del  R.  Istiluto  di  Studi  Superiori,  Firenze,  1891). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade.  71 

recorded  history  will  make  us  believe,  for  it  is  not  only  traditions  them- 
selves which  in  the  course  of  time  change  and  deteriorate,  but  above 
all  their  interpretations  and  constant  re-interpretations  in  the  mind 
of  man.  A custom,-  e.  g.,  may  survive  at  the  present  time  and  be 
practised  in  exactly  the  same  or  a similar  manner  as  thousands  of  years 
ago,  but  another  reason  for  it  may  be  given,  another  significance 
attributed  to  it  by  modem  man.  And  these  explanations  of  customs, 
of  rites,  of  traditions,  have  possibly  nothing  to  do  with  the  objective 
development  of  the  matter  in  the  world  of  reality.  They  are  certainly 
important,  but  more  as  folklore  or  psychological  material,  while  their 
historical  value  is  small  and  only  relative  in  that  they  may  be  apt  to 
furnish  the  clue  to  the  correct  scientific  explanation.  Applied  to  the 
case  under  consideration,  this  means:  K.uan-tsc’s  argumentation  is 
certainly  interesting  as  characterizing  the  intellectual  sphere  of  the 
man,  the  trend  of  his  thoughts,  and  his  manner  of  reasoning,  and  as 
fumi.shing  a good  example  of  this  mode  of  Chinese  philosophizing; 
but  to  make  use  of  it  as  the  foundation  of  far-reaching  conclusions 
regarding  the  existence  of  certain  cultural  periods  is,  in  my  estimation 
at  least,  out  of  the  question.'  Such  conclusions  must  be  reached 
by  other  methods. 

In  weighing  the  records  of  the  Chinese  in  the  balance  of  our  critique, 
we  are,  above  all,  confronted  with  the  fact  that,  throughout  Chinese 
literature,  there  is  not  one  single  instance  on  record  in  which  the  Chinese 
would  admit  that  stone  implements  like  arrow-heads,  knives  or  hatchets 
have  ever  been  made  and  used  by  them  in  ancient  times.  In  attempt- 
ing to  account  for  the  occasional  finds  of  stone  implements,  the  mere 
thought  that  these  might  have  originated  from  their  forefathers,  did 
not  even  enter  their  minds.  They  were  strange  to  them  and  looked 
upon  ufith  superstitious  awe.  As  far  as  Chinese  history  can  be  tiaced 
back,  we  find  the  Chinese  as  a nation  familiar  and  fully  equipped  \rith 
metals,  copper  or  bronze,  or  — copper  and  bronze,  the  beating  and 


‘The  same  holds  good  for  the  culture-periods  established  by  Hirth  in  his  paper 
Chinesische  Ansichten  fiber  Bronzetrommeln,  pp.  18-19,  on  the  ground  of  a passage 
in  the  Yiieh  tstieh  shu  compiled  in  52  a.  d.  and  possibly  containing  views  attributable 
to  the  fifth  century  b.  c.  Also  here  no  historical  source  is  involved  from  which 
inferences  could  be  drawn  in  regard  to  historical  events,  but  only  the  theorizing 
opinion  of  a philosopher  couched  in  the  style  of  a biblical  sermon.  According  to 
him,  in  oldest  times,  weapons  were  made  of  stone  to  cleave  timber  for  making 
palaces  and  houses;  the  dead  were  buried  by  dragons,  for  God  the  Lord  had  so  in- 
tended ; up  to  the  time  of  Huang-ti,  weapons  were  made  of  jade  to  fell  trees  for  build- 
ing houses,  and  to  bore  into  the  soil,  for  jade  was  also  a divine  substance;  and  as  the 
Lord  still  intended  so,  the  dead  were  buried  by  dragons.  In  the  same  stilted  lan- 
guage, with  reference  to  Providence,  bronze  and  iron  are  treated  to  conclude  the 
evolutionary’  series.  For  lack  of  all  palpable  sources,  this  philosopher  was,  of  course, 
entirely  ignorant  of  any  facts  relating  to  the  periods  of  which  he  speaks.  His  utter- 
ances are  philosophy  of  history,  not  history. 


72  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

casting  of  which  was  perfectly  understood.  The  jade  implements  of 
the  Chou  period  are  not  only  contemporaneous  wdth  the  Chinese 
bronze  age,  but  also  from  an  epoch  when  the  bronze  age  after  an  exist- 
ence of  several  millenniums  was  soon  nearing  its  end  and  iron  gradually 
began  to  make  its  way;  i.  e.  from  an  archaeological  viewpoint,  they 
are  recent  products.  They  are  not  the  index  of  a stone  age,  and  the 
literary  records  are  in  full  agreement  with  this  state  of  affairs.  At 
the  time  of  the  Chou,  the  Chinese  lived  surrounded  by  numerous 
foreign  peoples  who  partially  made  use  of  flint  arrows  and  possibly 
other  stone  weapons;  but  also  the  stock  of  Man  tribes  was  acquainted 
with  copper  and  employed  copper  utensils.  The  stone  implements 
of  their  neighbors  were  a source  of  wonder,  mere  curiosities,  to  the 
Chinese. 

Another  notable  fact  to  be  gleaned  from  the  references  above 
given  is  that  the  association  of  worked  stone  wdth  the  God  of 
Thunder  is  a rather  late  idea  and  sets  in  only  from  times  long  after  the 
beginning  of  our  era;  in  all  probability,  it  is  not  earlier  than  the  T'ang 
dynasty,  for  Ch’en  Tsang-k'i  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century  is  the  first  in  whom  this  idea  has  crystallized  (p.  63).  We 
observe  that  the  thunderbolts  are  not  found  an>’where  and  every- 
where, but  that  they  are  restricted  to  certain  localities,  among  which 
Lei-chou  is  prominent.  As  the  Tungusic  Su-shdn,  from  the  days  of 
antiquity  till  the  present  time,  are,  in  the  minds  of  the  Chinese,  the 
typical  representatives  of  flint  arrow  makers,  so  the  notion  of  thunder- 
bolts centers  around  Lei-chou,  the  Thunder  City.  This  cannot  be 
accidental.  We  know  that  the  Chinese  have  been  conquerors  and 
colonists  in  this  territory,  and  that  it  was  inhabited  before  their  arrival 
by  an  aboriginal  tribe,  the  Li,  the  remnants  of  which  are  to  be  found 
now'adays  in  the  interior  of  the  island  of  Hainan.*  During  the  Sung 
period  (960-1278  a.  d.)  they  were  still  settled  in  the  prefecture  of  Lei- 
chou,  as  at  that  time  their  language  is  mentioned  as  one  spoken  in  that 
locality  (Hirtii,  Chinesische  Studien,  p.  169).  We  may  safely  assume 
that  the  stone  implements  there  discovered  and  not  understood  by  the 
Chinese  must  be  credited  to  the  Li.  And  if  other  regions  like  Kiang- 
si  and  Sze-ch'uan  are  involved,  w'e  have  the  same  state  of  affairs  in 
that  these  too  were  and  are  still  inhabited  by  non-Chinese  tribes;  in 
regard  to  Yun-nan,  I expressed  the  same  opinion  above  (p.  32). 
Generally  speaking,  wherever  in  southern  China,  the  land  south  of  the 
Yahgtse,  stone  implements  turn  up,  there- is  the  greatest  probability 
of  their  origin  being  non-Chinese. 

' Regarding  this  tribe  compare  Hirth,  Die  Insel  Hainan  (Reprint  from  Baslian- 
Festschrift,  pp.  24  et  seq.). 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade. 

The  fact  that  stone  implements  were  once  more  U'idely  distributed 
in  China  than  the  actual  finds  hitherto  made  will  allow  us  to  conclude, 
may  be  traced  from  some  survivals  existing  in  other  forms.  We 
shall  meet  a number  of  such  survivals  in  the  group  of  jade  svmbols 
which,  during  the  Chou  period,  were  emblems  of  rank  and  dignity; 
part  of  these  are  traceable  to  former  implements,  as  e.  g.  the  imperial 
emblem  of  sovereignty  to  an  original  hammer.  These  types  will  be 
discussed  in  the  following  chapter.  By  comparing  a jade  chisel  \rith 
one  of  bronze  (p.  39),  we  have  made  the  acquaintance  of  another 
kind  of  survivals, — of  stone  forms  in  bronze.  Many  types  of  bronze 
chisels  and  hatchets  bear  indeed  such  a close  resemblance  to  corre- 
sponding jade  objects  that  the  assumption  of  an  historical  connection 
between  the  tw^o  groups  is  forcibly  impressed  upon  our  minds.  As 
the  number  of  such  bronze  implements  in  our  collection,  however,  is 
too  large,  and  this  .subject  would  require  a long  digression  into  the 
bronze  age,  I must  leave  it  here  and  come  back  to  it  in  a future  mono- 
graph on  these  bronze  objects. 

I wdsh  to  call  attention  in  this  connection  only  to  one  type  of  a 
stone-form  suiwdval  in  bronze  which  thus  far  has  become  known  to  us 
in  China  only  in  this  material,  but  whose  origin  most  probably  goes 
back  to  an  older  form  in  stone.  This  type  has  been  rather  unfortu- 
nately termed  shoulder-headed  celt;  I prefer  to  adhere  to  the  term 
spade-shaped  celt  familiar  to  us  in  America  Avhere  this  stone  imple- 
ment widely  occurs, * because  it  is  more  appropriate  to  the  matter, 
for  in  all  likelihood  this  implement  \vas  once  really  a spade. 

The  Chinese  admit  that  in  ancient  times  coinage  was  unknown  and 
only  barter  practised,  or  as  one  Chinese  author  puts  it:  “In  ancient 
times  they  carried  on  trade  merely  by  using  what  they  possessed  in 
exchange  for  Avhat  they  did  not  possess. Lumps  of  metal,  metal 
implements,  cloth  and  silk,  also  shells  seem  to  have  taken  the  place 
of  money.  This  primary  exchange  of  actual  implements  may  have 
led  to  the  practice  of  casting  miniature  tools  and  inscribing  them  with 
a fixed  valuation.  The  word  ts'ien  which  long  ago  assumed  the  mean- 
ing of  money,  once  occurs  in  the  Shi  king  (but  pronounced  tsien)  in  the 
sense  of  a hoe;  also  the  Shiio  wen  attributes  this  former  meaning  to 
the  word  and  defines  it  as  an  agricultural  implement.®  A coin  current 
during  the  Chou  dynasty  under  the  name  “spade-money”  {ch'an  pi) 
reveals  the  form  of  a spade  or  shovel  ^ and  may  have  been  derived  from 

* Compare  Moorehe.^d,  The  Stone- Age  of  North  America,  Vol.  I,  p.  335,  pp.  418 

ct  SCQm 

* L.  C.  Hopkins  in  Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1895,  p.  329. 

*G.  ScHLEGEL  (Uranographie  chinoise,  p.  273)  takes  it  in  the  sense  of  “sickle." 

* Hopkins,  1.  c.,  p.  324. 


74  I'lELD  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

an  agricultural  implement  of  this  type  (Fig.  ii).  T.  de  Lacouperie  * 
looked  upon  it  as  a surv'ival  of  an  implement  of  the  stone  age  and 

likened  it  to  “the  shouldered  celt  proper -to 
southeastern  Asia,  which  has  hitherto  been 
found  only  in  Pegu,  Cambodia  (Tonl4-Sap), 
and  Central  India  (Chhota-Nagpur).”  This 
identification,  however,  is  by  no  means  perfect 
and  only  partially  justified,  as  there  is  a 
remarkable  difference  in  the  curves  of  the 
edges  which  are  convex  in  the  stone  celts  and 
concave  in  the  Chinese  spades.  Figure  ii  is 
drawn  after  an  ancient  specimen  of  a bronze 
spade-shaped  coin  in  our  collection  which  is 
covered  with  a 
fine  russet,  blue 
and  green  pa- 
tina. The  edge 
is  eurved  in, 
of  almost  half- 
p,c  ,i  circular  shape, 

Spade-Shaped  Bronze  Coin  (from  terminating  in 
Specimen  m Field  Museum).  ° 

two  lateral 
tips;  the  blade  is  i mm  thick.  The 
shoulders  are  symmetrical,  each  i cm 
wide.  The  handle,  the  sides  of  which  arc 
in  the  shape  of  triangles,  is  a hollow  cast 
forming  a socket  betraying  the  applica- 
tion of  a wooden  handle;  there  is  a small 
triangular  opening^  in  the  upper  part  of 
one  of  the  broad  faces  of  the  handle  to 
admit  of  the  passage  of  a cord  for  closer 
attachment  to  the  wooden  hilt.  Related 
types  may  be  seen  also  in  the  jade  dance- 
hatchets  of  the  Han  period,  as  illustrated 
in  Figs.  1-4.  These  are  far  advanced 
])roducts  of  a higher  art,  and  an  attempt 
to  trace  them  back  to  their  primeval 
ancestral  forms  will  jjrobably  lead  to  a 
reconstruction  closely  related  to  the 
type  of  the  spade-shaped  celt  of  stone. 

’ Catalogue  of  Chinese  Coins,  p.  4 (London,  1892). 

* This  is  not  made  in  the  cast,  but  cut  out  after  casting.  Also  the  corresponding 
pieces  figured  in  the  Kin-shih  so  show  such  apertures  of  various  irregular  forms. 


Fig.  12. 

Bronze  Hatchet  of  Han  Period. 


Fkb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


75 

I here  add  two  other  bronze  hatchets  of  the  Han  period  which  offer 
a still  more  striking  analogy  to  the  stone  spades.  Both  are  in  my  col- 
lection in  the  American  Mu.scum,  New  York,  and  were  obtained  at 
Si-ngan  fu  in  1903.  The  one  shown  in  Fig.  12  (15.3  cm  X 6.5  cm) 
comes  nearest  of  all  to  the  supposed  ancestral  form  and  has,  of  course, 
assumed  under  the  clever  hands  of  the  Chinese  bronze-caster  a more 


Fig.  13. 

Bronze  Hatchet  of  Han  FVriod. 


regular  and  graceful  appearance.  The  two  shoulders  and  the  head- 
piece  have  remained,  and  the  socket  is  wanting.  The  headpiece  was 
stuck  into  the  cleft  of  the  wooden  hilt,  the  section  decorated  with 
meanders  being  left  uncovered  and  projecting  freely.  Cords  or  leashes 
passing  through  the  two  rectangular  apertures  in  the  butt  were  fastened  j 

around  the  hilt.  The  blade  is  covered  with  three  triangles  filled,  so 
to  speak,  with  triangular  convolute  spirals;  below  these,  two  crescents 
surround  a circle  in  .slight  relief.  The  significance  of  the  whole  orna- 
mental composition  is  beyond  our  knowledge.  The  bronze  axe  in 
Fig.  13  (18  cm  X 18  cm)  shows  the  same  head-piece  without  socket, 
and  in  the  butt  three  large  round  perforations  (each  about  3 cm  in 
diameter),  an  axe-shaped  ornament  in  relief  being  between  each  circle 


76  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


and  the  blade.  Shafting  was  perhaps  done  differently  in  this  case,  the 
hilt  enclosing  the  head-piece  being  set  vertically  on  the  back  of  the 
axe,  attachment  being  strengthened  by  leashes  passing  through  the 
three  apertures. 

The  spade-shaped  implement  of  stone  is  a peculiar  characteristic 
of  the  Colarian  tribes  of  Central  India  and  the  Mon-Khmer  group  in 


Farther  India  who  speak 
related  languages  (Scuth- 
east-Asiatic  or  Austronesian 
stock).  Figure  14  shows 
three  of  these  celts  after  A. 
Grunwedel.^  Up  to  1873, 
this  type  was  known  only 
from  Pegu  and  the  Malayan 
Peninsula.  In  that  year,  two 
specimens  of  the  same  type 
were  discovered  also  in 
Chhota  Nagpur  in  Central 
India  and  described  bj'  V. 
Ball,*  — one  made  of  a dark- 
green  hard  quartzite,  the 
other  of  a black  igneous  rock. 
Ball  was  able  to  show  that 
the  material  from  which  they 
are  made  occurs  in  situ 
within  the  district  of  Sing- 
bhum  where  the  finds  had 
been  made,  and  which  be- 
longs to  the  habitats  of  the 
Colarian  group.  The  identity 
of  these  two  types  with  those 
from  Pegu  was  at  once 
recognized,  particularly  by  I. 
F.  S.  Forbes*  who  hailed 


V 

Fig.  14. 

Spade-Shaped  Celts  (after  Griinwedel). 

1.  From  Chhota  Nagpur,  Central  India. 

2.  From  Gangaw,  Burma. 

3.  From  Kindat,  Burma. 

The  Burmese  legend  reads  mogA-ftrd  (pronounced  uio-gyo),  , . , 

».«.  thunderbolt.  this  discovery  as  a welcome 

confirmation  of  the  results  of 
comparative  philology.  These  finds  have  recently  much  increased,  and 
Noetling  obtained  two  of  these  spade-shaped  celts  in  Bumia,  which 
* Prahistorisches  aus  Birma  {Globus,  Vol.  58,  1895,  p.  15). 

®On  some  Stone  Implements  of  the  Barmese  Type,  found  in  Pargana  Dalbhum 
{Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  1875,  Xo.  VI,  pp.  118-120,  i Plate). 

’Comparative  Grammar  of  the  Languages  of  Further  India,  p.  142  (London, 
1881). 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.XDE. 


77 


are  now  in  the  Berlin  Museum,  and  have  been  compared  by  Grun- 
WEDEL  with  the  Indian  types  in  the  article  quoted.  P.  O.  Bodding* 
brought  together  more  material  from  the  region  of  the  Santal,  a branch 
of  the  Colarian  or  Munda  group,  and  combats  the  view  meanwhile 
set  forth  by  S.  E.  Peal  that  these* implements  have  been  u.sed  as  hoes. 
Peal,2  when  in  1893  at  Ledo  and  Tikak,  villages  of  the  Naga  tribe, 
east  of  Makum  in  Assam,  secured  two  small  iron  hoes  used  by  women 
in  weeding  the  hill  paddy.  They  arc  full-sized  instruments,  yet  the 
blade  measures  only  two  inches  square,  and  the  shoulder  less  than  one 
inch;  they  have  handles  of  split  cane  a foot  long,  the  cane  being  finnly 
bound  round  the  shoulder.  Peal  assumes  that  these  hoes  arc  simply 
the  Kol-Mon  “shoulder-headed  celts”  made  in  iron,  and  that  hence 
we  see  not  only  the  meaning  of  the  peculiar  “shoulder,”  but  the  office 
of  the  complete  implement  as  a miniature  hoe.  Bodding®  objects  to 
this  conclu.sion  on  the  ground  that,  if  these  celts  should  originally  have 
belonged  to  the  ancestors  of  the  Mon-Khmer  and  Munda  peoples, 
one  would  expect,  if  Peal’s  deductions  are  correct,  to  find  an  iron  hoe 
of  the  same  shape  used  by  these  peoples  also;  but  no  such  implement 
is  found,  at  least  not  among  the  Santal,  who,  of  agricultural  tools,  ^ 
know  only  a stick  \Gth  a flat  piece  of  iron  attached  to  the  end  for  the 
purpose  of  digging  roots,  or  making  small  holes  in  the  ground.  This 
objection  is,  in  my  estimation,  not  very  weighty.  We  must  always 
be  mindful  of  the  overwhelming  sway  of  history  and  historical  events. 
The  Colarian  group,  who  we  are  bound  to  suppose  migrated  in  a remote 
period  from  Farther  India,  where  it  was  in  close  touch  with  the  Mon- 
Khmer  peoples,  into  their  present  habitats,  have  had  a long  and  varied 
history.  Their  own  traditions  carry  their  migrations  back  into  a period 
when  they  were  settled  in  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Ganges. 
Starting  from  the  north-east,  they  gradually  worked  their  way  up  the 
valley'  of  the  Ganges,  until  we  find  them  in  the  neighborhood  of  Benares 
with  their  headquarters  near  Mirzapur.  Here  the  main  body  which 
had  occupied  the  northern  bank  of  the  river,  crossed  and,  heading 
southward,  struck  the  Vindhya  hills,  until  they  at  length  reached  the 
tableland  of  Chhota  Nagpur.'*  These  events,  however,  present  only 

’Ancient  Stone  Implements  in  the  Santal  Parganas  {Journal  Asiatic  Society  of 
Bengal.  Vol.  70,  Part  III,  No.  i,  1901,  pp.  17-22,  4 Plates)  and  Shoulder-headed  and 
other  Forms  of  Stone  Implements  in  the  Santal  Parganas  {Ibid.,  Vol.  73,  Part  III, 
No.  2,  1904,  pp.  27-31). 

*On  some  Traces  of  the  Kol-Mon-Annam  in  the  Eastern  Naga  Hills  {Ibid., 
Vol.  75,  Part  III,  No.  i,  1896,  pp.  20-24). 

’ L.  c.,  p.  29. 

^Compare  L.  A.  Waddell,  The  Traditional  Migration  of  the  Santal  Tribe 
{Indian  Antiquary,  Vol.  XXII,  1893,  pp.  294-296)  and  A.  Campbell,  Traditional 
Migration  of  the  Santal  Tribes  {Ibid.,  V’ol.  XXIII,  1894,  pp.  103-104). 


78  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Yol.  X. 


the  last  landmark  in  the  long  migration  history  of  the  Colarians. 
There  are  reasons  to  believe  that  in  still  earlier  times,  chronologically 
not  definable,  the  Colarian-Mon  stock  when  it  formed  a coherent 
unbroken  ethnic  body  must  have  lived  along  the  southern  ranges  of  the 
eastern  Himalaya,  extending  into  the  territories  of  Bengal  and  Assam. 
In  Tibetan  literature  and  even  in  the  modern  Tibetan  colloquial  lan- 
guage, the  word  Afon  still  appears  as  a generic  designation  for  all  non- 
Tibetan  tribes  living  southward  of  the  Himalaya  and  is  particularly 
used  in  composition  with  the  names  of  those  kinds  of  cereals  and 
pulse  early  received  by  the  Tibetans  from  India.*  Consequently, 
the  Tibetan  name  Mon  originally  referred  to  the  Mon  tribes,  and  to 
those  exclu-sively ; while,  at  a later  period,  after  a disintegration  of 
this  group  resulting  in  a migration  of  the  Mon  southward  into  Farther 
India  and  of  the  Colarians  into  a southwesterly  direction,  this  name 
was  retained  by  the  Tibetans  and  transferred  to  new-coming  tribes 
occupying  the  place  of  the  former  emigrants,  and  then  to  Northern 
India  in  a generalized  way.  In  view  of  such  historical  events,  to  come 
back  to  our  proposition  above,  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  Mon 
or  Colarians,  or  both  as  a prehistoric  undivided  unit,  once  covered 
also  the  territory  of  the  Naga  and  left  there  these  peculiar  stone  celts 
which  could  have  subsequently  given  the  incentive  for  their  imitation 
in  iron.  The  Colarians  preserved  them  faithfully,  until  they  reached 
their  new  home  where  they  gradually  dropped  into  oblivion,  as  they 
received  iron  from  their  more  cultivated  neighbors.  This  consideration 
is  also  apt  to  prove  that  the  sjiade-shaped  stone  celt  must  be  of  con- 
siderable antiquity,  as  also  indicated  by  the  extent  of  the  area  over 
which  it  has  been  found.  It  has  been  a long-lived  implement,  too, 
and  seems  to  have  still  been  in  actual  use  during  the  bronze  age.  J. 
Deniker  (The  Races  of  Man,  p.  364,  New  York,  1906)  figures  one 
polished  spade-shaped  celt  excavated  with  several  others  in  Cambodja, 
side  by  side  with  objects  of  bronze.** 

All  the  tribes  among  which  this  spade  has  been  found  once  j^ractised 
hoe-culture  and  still  partially  practise  it  (see  p.  48).  Hence  it  is 
evident  that  this  implement  was  the  mattock  which  they  used  for  this 

'L.wfer  in  Memoiresde  la  Sociele  jinno-ougrienne,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  94-101  (Hel- 
singfors, 1898),  where  all  the  evidence  in  this  question  is  brought  together.  The 
conclusions  as  formed  above  are  the  same  as  those  at  which  I arrived  thirteen  years 
ago,  and  after  renewed  examination,  I see  no  reason  to  modify  them. 

* Curiously  enough,  he  does  not  refer  to  the  corresponding  types  of  Central  India, 
and  is  quite  unaware  of  the  great  importance  which  this  trifling  object  bears  on  a 
chapter  in  the  primeval  history  in  Eastern  Asia.  His  note  that  the  Xaga  have  still 
at  the  present  day  axes  of  precisely  the  same  form  which  they  use  as  hoes  deserves 
correction,  for  the  article  of  Peal  to  which  he  refers  speaks  of  hoes  made  of  iron  in 
a similar  shape,  and  which  are  possibly,  but  not  positively,  connected  with  those 
ancient  stone  celts. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


79 


purpose,  and  it  thence  follows  that  not  the  Chinese,  full-fledged  agri- 
culturists from  the  beginning  of  their  history,  invented  it,  but  the  hoe- 
culturists  adjoining  them  on  the  south.  This  aspect  of  things  will 
account  also  for  the  absence  of  this  stone  celt  on  Chinese  soil,  as  the 
Chinese  had  no  use  for  it.  They  imitated  it  in  a miniature  bronze 
form  adapted  to  the  purpose  of  barter,  and  if  it  occurs  again  in  the 
ceremonial  dance-axes  of  bronze  and  jade,  the  reason  for  this  derivation 
is  not  far  to  seek,  if  we  remember  that  the  Chinese,  according  to  their 
own  accounts,  derived  many  of  their  pantomimic  dances  from  their 
southern  barbarian  neighbors,  the  Man}  If  they  derived  the  dances, 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  they  derived  simultaneously  also 
the  paraphernalia  belonging  to  them.  The  spade-shaped  form  of 
implement  in  its  bronze  derivate,  accordingly,  is  one  of  the  numerous 
objects  and  ideas  which  the  Chinese  took  up  from  the  culture-sphere 
of  the  South-east  at  a period  when  these  two  great  cultural  provinces 
were  still  separated.  The  gradual  welding  of  these  two  into  one 
finally  resulted  in  that  culture  unit  which  we  now  call  simply  China. 

* And  most  probably,  all  their  ancient  dances  come  from  that  source.  The 
Chinese  have  never  been  a dancing  nation,  as  is  easily  seen  in  modern  China  where 
no  man  and  no  woman  is  given  to  dancing:  but  with  the  Tibetans,  the  Man  and 
all  Southeast-Asiatic  tribes  including  the  Malayan,  dancing  is  popular  and  national. 


II.  JADE  SYMBOLS  OF  SOVEREIGN  POWER 


Among  the  numerous  offices  of  the  Chou  dynasty  (b.  c.  i 122-255) 
there  was  a steward  of  the  treasury  (t'ien  fu)  charged  with  the  superin- 
tendence and  preservation  of  the  Hall  of  the  Ancestor  (Hou-lsi)  of  the 
imperial  house,  in  which  all  jjrecious  objects  transmitted  from  generation 
to  generation  were  hoarded.  He  was  responsible  for  the  regulations 
governing  the  treasury  and  took  care  of  the  emblems  of  jade  and  all 
valuables  belonging  to  the  dynastic  family.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
celebration  of  a great  sacrifice  or  of  a great  funeral  service,  he  brought 
the  desired  objects  out  to  the  place  of  ceremony,  and  at  the  termination 
of  the  rites,  locked  them  up  again  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  480).  In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  spring,  he  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  the  victims  the 
precious  objects  and  the  jewels  of  the  imperial  costume.  At  the  end 
of  the  winter,  he  arranged  the  pieces  of  jade  used  in  the  ceremony  which 
was  observed  to  determine  whether  a favorable  or  unfavorable  new 
year  would  ensue  {Ibid.,  p.  482).  In  case  the  emperor  transferred  his 
residence  and  his  treasury,  he  handed  all  valuables  over  to  the  chief 
of  the  office  in  the  new  place  (p.  483). 

There  were,  further,  at  the  court  of  the  Chou  dynasty,  special 
artisans  to  execute  works  in  jade  {yii  jen,  “jade  men”),  in  particular 
the  official  insignia  of  jade  the  care  of  which  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  an  officer,  called  Tien-jui  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  519;  Vol.  I,  p.  483). 
Jui  is  the  general  name  for  the  jade  tablets  conferred  by  the  emperor 
on  the  five  classes  of  feudal  princes  {wu  jui)  as  a mark  of  investiture 
and  a s\Tnbol  of  their  rank,  and  held  by  them  in  their  hands,  when  they 
had  audience  in  court.  The  tien-jui  official  was  obliged  to  distinguish 
their  kinds  and  names,  and  to  define  the  ceremonies  where  they  come 
into  action.  There  were  four  great  audiences,  one  in  each  season,  and 
occasional  and  combined  visits  of  the  fief-holders. 

Different  from  this  office  is  that  of  the  yii  fu  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  124). 
The  lien  jui  was  a master  of  ceremonies  in  direct  connection  with  the 
rites  in  which  the  treasures  in  his  charge  were  involved,  and  taking  an 
active  part  in  the  proceedings.  The  yii  fu,  however,  was  an  executive 
official  in  superintendence  of  the  manufacture  of  jades  and  other 
valuable  objeets  touching  on  the  ceremonial  life  of  the  imperial  family. 
The  sphere  of  his  competency  is  not  clearly  defined  from  that  of  the 
nci-fu  who  received  all  precious  objects  offered  to  the  emperor  by  the 
great  dignitaries  like  gold,  jade,  ivory,  furs,  weapons,  etc.,  a duty 

80 


Feb.,  1912. 


81 


J.ADE. 

ascnbed  also  to  the  yil  fu.  It  seems  that  the  fomier  had  the  mere 
function  of  a collector,  the  latter  that  of  a preparator  who  supplied 

jewelry  and  ornaments  for  actual  use  down  to  such  banalities  as  an 
imperial  sanitary  vessel. 

In  the  official  hierarchy  of  the  Chou,  everything  was  defined  and 
regulated  according  to  a well  devised  scheme  which  found  its  expression 
in  a series  of  jade  insignia  of  power  and  rank.  This  is,  for  several 
reasons,  one  of  the  most  difficult  subjects  of  Chinese  archteology.  In  the 
Chou  li  the  names  and  utilizations  of  these  insignia  have  been  handed 
down  without  a full  de.scription  of  them  which  was  onlj^  supplied  by 
the  commentators  of  the  Han  period.  Most  of  these  insignia  were 
then  lost,  and  the  commentators  seem  to  speak  of  them  merely  on 
the  ground  of  traditions.  The  drawings  of  these  in.signia  added  to 
the  later  editions  of  the  Rituals  like  the  San  li  I'u  of  Nieh  Tsung-i 
of  the  Sung  period  ^ are  not  made  from  real  specimens  of  the  Chou 
dynasty,  but  are  imaginary  reconstructions  based  on  the  statements 
of  the  commentators  to  the  Chou  li,  and  are  therefore  worthless,  in 
my  opinion,  for  archa?ological  purposes.  The  same  judgment  holds 
good  for  the  numerous  illustrations  of  these  insignia  embodied  in  the 
Ku  yii  / u p'u  which,  a.side  from  the  spurious  inscriptions  carved  in  them, 
are  suspicious  because  of  their  striking  similarity  to  the  reconstructive 
drawings  of  Nieh  Tsung-i  ■ and  because  of  an  abundance  of  decorative 
designs  which  plainly  betray  the  pictorial  style  of  the  Sung  period  and 
cannot  have  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Chou  dynasty.  The  ingenious 
investigations  of  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  release  me  from  the  task  of  pursuing 
this  criticism,  and  I propose  to  supersede  all  the  doubtful  material  of 
imaginative  Chinese  draughtsmen  by  his  positive  results  in  the  shape 
of  a series  of  genuine  jade  tokens  of  the  Chou  period. 

I first  give  a brief  revdew  of  what  the  Chou  li  and  its  commentators 
have  to  say  in  regard  to  these  insignia,  and  then  proceed  to  lay  before 
the  reader  the  material  of  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  which  bears  all  external  and 
internal  evidence  of  representing  the  objects  spoken  of  in  the  Ritual. 

The  emperor  was,  according  to  the  Chou  li,  entitled  to  several  jade 
tablets.  Prominent  among  these  are  two,  “the  large  tablet”  {ta  kuei, 
Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  522)  with  hammer-shaped  head,  three  feet  long, 
which  he  fixed  in  his  girdle;  and  “the  tablet  of  power”  {chen  kuei,  1.  c. 
p.  519)  being  one  foot  two  inches  long  and  held  by  the  sovereign  in 

‘I  availed  myself  of  the  Japanese  edition  printed  in  Tokyo,  1761,  with  a preface 
by  Lan  Cn'^NG-Tfe,  dated  1676.  The  date  of  the  original  is  962  a.  d. 

Ht  is  also  noteworthy  that  the  Sung  Catalogue  of  Jades  quotes  his  work  through- 
out, but  not  the  Chou  li  or  Li  ki.  I am  under  the  impression  that  the  compilers  of 
the  catalogue  made  it  their  object  to  reconstruct  the  material  described  or  figured  in 
the  San  li  t'u.  . 


82  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

his  hands.  It  was  adorned  with  bands  embroidered  in  five  colors,  and 
the  emperor  having  the  ta  kuei  in  his  girdle  and  the  chen  kuei  in  his 
hands  offered,  during  the  spring,  the  sacrifice  to  the  Sun  in  the  morning 
(Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  484).^  According  to  the  opinion  of  the  commentators 
of  the  Han  period,  designs  of  hills  were  engraved  on  the  s>Tnbol  of 
sovereign  power  {chert  kuei).  This  view  doubtless  arose  from  the  fact 
that  the  word  chen  in  the  designation  of  this  tablet  means  not  only 
jiacification,  submission,  power,  but  is  also  the  name  given  to  the  four 
jirotecting  mountains  of  the  frontier;  hence  the  subsequent  illustrators 
represented  this  tablet  with  a conventional  design  of  four  hills  simply 
based  on  this  misunderstanding.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  mean- 
ing of  chen  kuei  is  plainly  tablet  of  power  or  emblem  of  sovereignty, 
and  that  it  has  no  reference  to  the  four  mountains  in  whose  worship 
it  serves  no  function.^  We  shall  see  from  the  actual  specimen  of  Wu 
that  the  chen  kuei  was  unadorned  indeed,  and  this  is  quite  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Chou  time,  all  the  jade  objects  of  which  are  of 
extreme  simplicity.  It  is  entirely  out  of  the  question  that  mountain 
scenery,  as  the  epigones  wdll  make  us  believe,  was  carved  on  these 
jade  implements  which  are  connected  with  most  primitive  and  primeval 
ideas.  These  mountain  drawings  are  downright  inventions  of  the  Sung 
period,  and  suspicion  must  increase,  as  different  conceptions  of  them 
exist. 

One  maj^  be  viewed,  e.  g.,  in  the  book  of  Gingell,  p.  33,  where  the 
tablet  ends  above  in  a pointed  angle,  and  where  the  four  hills  are 
arranged  in  one  vertical  row,  one  placed  above  the  other;  also  the  silken 
band  is  here  added.  This  illustration  is  identical  with  that  in  the 
K'ien-lung  edition  of  the  Rituals.  Another  cut  is  inserted  in  the 
Dictionary  of  Couvreur,  p.  433,  in  which  the  tablet  is  surmounted 
by  a rounded  knob,  and  where  two  hills  are  placed  side  by  side  in  the 
upper  part  and  two  others  in  the  same  way  at  the  foot. 

The  fact  that  these  imperial  emblems  were  not  ornamented  is  plainly 
borne  out  f>y  the  wording  of  the  Li  ki,  for  “acts  of  the  greatest  reverence 
admit  of  no  ornament”  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  400;  Couvreur,  Vol.  I, 
p.  549),  and  for  this  reason,  the  ta  kuei  of  the  sovereign  was  not  carved 
with  any  ornaments;  as  added  in  another  passage  (Couvreur,  p.  600), 
because  it  was  only  the  simplicity  of  the  material  which  was  appre- 
ciated.® 

•Compare  De  Groot,  The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  VI,  p.  1172. 

*This  is  expressly  stated  also  by  the  K'ien-lun’g  editors  of  the  Chou  li:  by  means 
of  the  chen  kuei,  the  sovereign  rules  (chin)  and  pacifies  the  empire. 

’This  entire  disquisition  of  the  Li  ki  is  highly  instructive  and  of  primary  impor- 
tance. In  some  ceremonial  usages  the  multitude  of  things  forrned  the  mark  of  dis- 
tinction, in  others  the  paucity  of  things  formed  the  mark  of  distinction;  in  others 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


83 

During  the  Han  dynasty  the  custom  obtained  that  the  jade  emblem 
hiiei,  of  a length  of  one  foot  four  inches,  was  interred  wdth  the  sovereign; 
it  was  presented  with  a piece  of  red  cloth  three  inches  square  and 
hemmed  on  all  sides  \Hth  scarlet  silk  of  red  lining  (De  Groot,  The 
Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  II,  p.  404). 

There  was  a round  jade  tablet  {yilan  kuei,  Giles  No.  13724)  nine 
inches  long,  fastened  with  a silk  band,  used,  as  the  Chou  li  says,  “to 
regulate  virtue”  (Biox,  Vol.  II,  p.  523),  or  in  another  passage,  “to 
call  forth  virtue  and  to  perfect  good  sentiments”  (Vol.  I,  p.  491). 
The  commentary  explains  that  this  tablet  is  entrusted  to  the  delegates 
of  the  emperor;  when  a feudal  prince  shows  himself  virtuous,  this  tablet 
is  conferred  upon  him  by  imperial  order  as  a reward.  The  tablet  is 
round,  another  commentary  remarks,  having  no  points,  which  seems 
to  mean  an  “all-round”  perfection. 

In  opposition  to  the  round  tablet  of  perfect  virtue,  there  was  the 
“pointed  tablet”  (yen  kuei,  Giles  No.  13073)  serving  “to  change 
conduct,  to  destroy  depravity”  (Biox,  Vol.  I,  p.  491).  The  projecting 
point,  remarks  the  commentary,  is  the  emblem  of  wrongs  and  offences, 
of  the  attack  on  and  appeal  to  duty,  of  blame  and  punishment;  when 
the  emperor  orders  a dignitary  to  abandon  his  bad  behavior  and  to 
reform,  he  sends  this  tablet  to  reprimand  and  to  warn  him.  According 
to  another  commentary,  it  is  also  a tablet  of  credence  for  the  delegates 
of  the  emperor  and  of  the  princes;  when  a -prince  despatches  a prefect 
to  obtain  instructions  from  the  emperor,  he  enjoins  on  him  to  take  this 
tablet,  and  thus  to  indicate  his  mission.  Couvreur  (p.  433)  has 
figured  this  tablet  with  a spiral-shaped  cloud-ornament  in  the  upper 
triangular  part  and  two  others  placed  side  by  side  at  the  foot.  In 
the  K'ien-lung  edition  of  the  Rituals,  a continuous  cloud-ornament 
covers  the  body  of  the  kuei,  while  the  triangular  point  is  blank.  That 
the  ideas  of  the  Chinese  regarding  this  instrument  are  much  confused, 
is  evident  from  the  confounded  descriptions  given  by  the  two  com- 
mentators translated  by  Biox  (Vol.  II,  p.  524). 

A jade  tablet  called  ku  kuei,  “tablet  wth  grains,”  seven  inches 
long,  is  offered  by  the  emperor  to  the  woman  whom  he  marries  (Biox, 
Vol.  II,  p.  525),  i.  e.  it  accompanied  the  bridal  presents,  and  designs  of 
grains  were  engraved  on  it.  This  was  not,  however,  a realistic  plant- 

greatness  of  size  formed  the  mark,  in  others  smallness  of  size  formed  the  mark;  in 
others,  the  height  formed  the  mark  of  distinction,  in  others  lowness  formed  the  mark; 
in  others  ornament  formed  the  mark,  in  others  plainness  formed  the  mark.  This 
lesson  should  be  taken  to  heart  by  our  school  of  evolutionists  who  construct  the 
development  of  all  human  thoughts  by  means  of  artificial  and  illogical  evolutionary 
and  classificatory  schemes  and  know  everything  with  dogmatic  peremptoriness 
about  thought  evolutions,  as  if  they  had  rendered  themselves  actual  midwifery 
services  at  the  birth  of  every  thought. 


84  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

design,  but  “grains”  {ku)  was  merely  the  name  of  a geometric  orna- 
ment consisting  of  rows  of  small  raised  dots  or  knobs  which  from  a 
supposed  resemblance  to  grains  received  this  name.  It  occurs  also 
on  sacrificial  bronze  bowls  of  the  Chou  period,  one  of  which  is  in  our 
collection. 

The  tablets  called  chang  (Giles  No.  400)  will  be  discussed  below  in 
connection  with  the  actual  specimens  (p.  100). 

When  the  sovereign  received  the  feudal  lords  in  audience,  he  availed 
himself  of  a jade  tablet  called  “cap”  {mao  kuei,  Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  520). 
It  is  described  by  the  commentaries  as  a sort  of  cube  of  jade,  each  side 
being  four  inches  in  length,  an  arch-shaped  section  being  cut  out  on 
the  lower  face,  in  order  to  indicate  “that  the  emperor’s  virtue  can  cover 
and  jirotect  the  empire.”  The  feudal  lords  were  supposed  to  hold 
their  jade  insignia  of  rank  in  their  hands,  while  the  sovereign  placed 
the  mao  over  them  (“capped”  them)  to  ascertain  whether  they  were 
genuine.  It  is  mentioned  as  early  as  in  the  Shu  king  (Ku  ming  23,  ed. 
CouvREUR,  p.  356). 

The  feudal  jirince  of  the  first  rank  {kungY  is  invested  with  the  jade 
tablet  called  huan  kuei  “pillar  tablet”  of  a prescribed  length  of  nine 
inches.  The  traditional  representations  figure  it  either  as  a pointed 
kuei  with  two  vertical  lines  inside  running  parallel  with  the  lateral 
sides,  or  with  a top  consisting  of  a horizontal  line  wfith  two  adjoining 
slanting  lines,  as  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  15.-  The  commentary  adds  that 
the  feudal  lords  of  the  first  rank  are  the  great  councillors  of  the  emperor 
and  the  descendants  of  the  two  first  sovereigns;  the  two  “pillars”  are 
emblematic  of  the  jialace  and  sujiport  it,  as  the  princes  support  the 
emperor. 

The  feudal  ])rince  of  the  second  rank  {hou)  is  distinguished  by  the 
jade  tablet  sin  kuei,  seven  inches  long.  Figure  16  shows  the  traditional 
representation  of  it,  with  flat  toji,  while  again  in  the  illustrations  to  the 
Chou  li  a pointed  roof-sha])ed  top  appears.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that 
in  both  cases  the  tablet  is  unomamented,  so  that  also  the  K'ien-lung 
editors  had  lost  confidence  in  the  artificial  picture  given  in  the  San  li 
t'u  and  identical  with  that  of  Couvreur  to  be  mentioned  presently. 
The  word  sin  “faith”  should  be  read  here  shen  “body,”  explain  the 

* The  five  degrees  of  feudal  rank  (wm  kid)  alleged  to  have  been  instituted  by  the 
mythieal  emperors  Yao  and  Shun  are  called  kung,  hou,  po,  tse,  nan,  commonly  ren- 
dered into  English  as  duke,  marquis,  earl,  viscount,  baron  (W.  F.  Mayers,  Chinese 
Reader’s  Manual,  p.  320);  but  as  our  own  political  institutions  fundamentally  differ 
from  those  of  the  Chinese,  such  translations  are  rrtisleading,  and  I therefore  prefer 
to  adhere  to  the  plain  terminologj’  introduced  by  Biot;  prince  or  feudal  prince  of 
first,  second,  etc.  rank. 

^Derived  from  the  Palace  edition  of  the  Li  ki  (1748):  in  the  illustrations  of  the 
same  edition  to  the  Chou  li,  the  same  tablet  is  represented  with  a pointed  top. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


85 


Fig.  15. 


Fig.  16. 


Fig.  17. 


Reconstructions  of  the  Jade  Tablets  huan  kuei  (Fig.  15).  sin  kuei  (Fig.  16).  and  kung  kuei  (Fig.  17) 
(from  the  Palace  Edition  of  the  Li  ki). 


86  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antil,  Yol.  X. 

commentaries,  so  that  Biot  translates  tablette  au  corps  incline  and 
CouVREUR  tablette  du  corps  droit.  But  what  does  that  mean?  Couv- 
REUR  gives  a reproduction  of  this  tablet  on  which  is  engraved  the 
figure  of  a man  with  long  sleeves  standing  and  holding  a tablet  in  his 
hands.  If  the  proposed  reading  shen  should  refer  to  this  figure,  it  is 
just  a subsequent  and  secondary  reflection  as  this  figure  itself,  which 
certainly  cannot  be  a production  of  the  Chou  period,  but  is  also  a 
comment  and  the  outcome  of  a misled  imagination  of  the  epigones. 


Fig.  i8. 

Jade  Disk  with  "Grain”  Pattern. 


Fig.  19. 

Jade  Disk  with  "Rush”  Pattern. 


.\ccording  to  the  Notions  of  the  Sung  Period  (from  the  Palace  Edition  of  the  Li  ki). 


I think  the  wording  of  the  te.xt  simply  says  what  the  written  s\Tnbol 
implies, — sin  kuei,  a tablet  of  credence,  a badge  of  trust  and  confi- 
dence. 

The  feudal  prince  of  the  third  rank  (po)  is  honored  w'ith  a jade 
tablet  seven  inches  long,  called  kung  kuei  “curved  tablet.”^  The  word 
kung  seems  to  imply  also  the  idea  of  submission  or  subordinance.  Figure 
17  shows  the  conception  of  this  tablet  in  the  K'ien-lung  period  which 
seems  to  come  nearer  to  reality  than  the  figure  of  the  San  li  t'u  or 
Leu  king  t'u  reproduced  by  Couvreur. 

While  the  tablets  of  the  three  first  feudal  ranks  belong  to  the  class 
of  kuei,  i.  e.  oblong,  flat,  angular  jade  plaques,  those  assigned  to  the 
fourth  and  fifth  ranks  are  jade  disks  or  perforated  circular  plaques 

'Translated  by  Biot  (Vol.  I,  p.  485):  kuei  du  corps  penche  or  tablette  au  corps 

droit  (Vol.  II,  p.  520)  with  reference  to  the  engraved  figure  of  a man  holding  a tablet 
(in  Couvreur,  p.  433)  which  is,  of  course,  a late  invention  of  the  Sung  period  con- 
ceived of  in  justification  of  this  commentatorial  explanation. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade.  sj 

{pi),  the  one  intended  for  the  lord  of  the  fourth  rank  {tse)  decorated 
with  a pattern  of  grain  ku  (Fig.  18),  and  the  other  for  the  lord  of  the 
fifth  rank  {nan)  ornamented  with  the  emblem  of  rushes  p'u  (Fig. 


19).^  The  Chinese  illustrators  of  the  Sung  time  represented  the 
former  with  a naturalistic  design  of  four  bundles  of  grain  and  the  latter 
with  four  naturalistic  rushes.  We  explained  the  grain  pattern  above; 
the  “rush”  pattern  was  in  reality  a geometric  design  consisting  of  rows 
of  he.xagons,  as  we  shall  see  later  on  (Fig.  72).  We  do  not  treat  in  this 


’ Also  figured  in  Gingell,  p.  34,  and  Couvrecr,  p.  620. 


88  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

chapter  of  these  two  emblems,  but  in  the  section  on  the  jade  symbols 
of  Heaven,  as  they  belong  typologically  to  the  series  of  pi. 

The  main  differences  of  the  tablets  of  rank  consisted  not  only  in 
their  length  and  in  their  shape,  but  also  in  the  quality  of  the  material. 
The  Son  of  Heaven  alone  was  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  using  jiure 
white  jade  of  uniform  color,  while  the  princes  from  the  first  to  the 
third  rank  were  restricted  to  the  use  of  jades  of  mixed  colors  (Biot, 
Vol.  II,  p.  521). 1 

Jade  tablets  were  also  to  be  sent  along  with  presents  of  which  six 
kinds  were  distinguished  {leu  pi):  these  were  horses  accompanied  by 
the  tablet  kuei;  furs  presented  with  the  tablet  chang;  plain  silks  with 
the  jade  ring  pi;  variegated  silks  with  the  jade  tube  ts'ung;  embroidered 
silks  with  the  jade  carvdng  in  shape  of  a tiger  {hu) ; and  silks  embroid- 
ered in  black  and  white  with  the  huang,  a semicircular  jade  piece.^ 

We  have  seen  that  the  chen  kuei  or  tablet  of  power  was  the  s>Tnbol 
of  imperial  sovereignty.  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  has  discovered  a specimen 
which  he  believes  he  is  justified  in  identifying  with  this  object,  and  which 
appears  as  the  first  illustration  in  his  book,  reduced  to  i"o  of  the  original. 
It  is  here  reproduced  in  Fig.  20.  It  is  of  dark-green  jade  mottled  in 
various  colors.  The  small  essay  dwelling  on  this  interesting  object 
displays  a great  deal  of  acumen  on  the  part  of  the  author  and  does 
much  credit  to  his  critical  faculty  which  dares  to  oppose  the  sanctioned 
interpretations  of  the  past.  He  takes  the  statement  of  the  Chou  li 
(Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  522)  as  his  starting-point  and  discusses  the  meaning 
of  the  sentence  that  the  tablet  (kuei)  of  the  Son  of  Heaven  had  a pi 
in  the  centre.  This  word  is  written  in  the  ancient  text  in  a purely 
phonetic  way,  — as  then  so  often  occurred,  — with  the  character  pi 
meaning  “to  be  necessary”  (Giles  No.  8922),  i.  e.  the  classifier  has 
evidently  been  omitted.  The  commentator  Cheng  had  proposed  to 
read  pi  (Giles  No.  9001)  with  the  meaning  of  “fringe,  cord.”  Thus, 
also  Biot  joining  this  opinion  translated  that  the  tablet  carried  by  the 
emperor  has  in  the  middle  a cord  called  pi.  Wu  rejects  this  view  on 
the  ground  that  in  the  present  tablet  the  perforation  has  a circumference 
of  three  inches,  that  from  the  upper  periphery  of  this  circle  to  the  upper 
edge  there  is  an  interval  of  four  inches  and  a half,  and  not  quite  so  much 
from  the  lower  periphery  down  to  the  lower  edge;  in  other  words,  the 
perforation  is  situated  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  tablet  and  is  much 
too  large  to  make  it  possible  to  suppose  that-it  might  have  merely  served 

* The  interpretation  of  this  passage  by  the  commentary  of  Chfing  Ngo  seems 
to  me  an  arbitrary  opinion  which  the  wording  of  the  text  does  not  bear  out. 

^The  conventional  Chinese  designs  of  the  first  four  tablets  see  in  Gingell,  p.  38. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


89 


for  the  passage  of  a cord.  In  such  cases  simple  small  holes  are  drilled 
somewhere  very  near  to  the  lower  edge  as  seen  in  the  followng  speci- 
mens. The  present  one,  however,  was  not  provided  \\4th  a cord,  but 
seized  by  the  hand.  \Vu  therefore  suggests  the  combining  of  the  word 
pi  in  the  text  of  the  Chou  U udth  the  clas.sifier  75  for  tree  or  wood,  a 
character  (not  in  Giles)  reading  also  pi.  This  word  means,  according 
to  the  dictionary  Shuo  wen,  “a  pali.sade  erected  by  means  of  bamboo 
poles,”  but  also  a socket,  e.  g.  in  a spear-head,  for  the  insertion  of  a 
wooden  handle.  It  may  therefore  be  conjectured  with  tolerable  cer- 
tainty that  this  perforation  served  the  purpose  of  wedging  in  a handle. 
If  this  was  really  the  case,  i.  e.  if  this  perforation  presents  an  axe-hole, 
we  are  further  justified  in  concluding  that  this  instrument  either  is 
itself  an  axe  or  hammer  or  at  least  derives  its  shape  and  e.ssential 
features  from  the  model  of  an  axe,  in  the  manner,  so  to  speak,  of  a 
ceremonial  survival. 

This  conclusion  of  mine  is  corroborated  by  the  further  investi- 
gation of  \Vu.  He  refers  to  the  definition  given  in  the  Chou  li  of 
“the  great  tablet”  {to  kuei)  as  being  three  feet  long,  made  sloping 
{chu,  Giles  No.  2611)  in  the  upper  part  so  as  to  form  a hammer’s 
head  (chung  k'uei  shou,  see  Giles  No.  6491,  last  item);  the  same 
definition  is  repeated  in  the  Shuo  wen  where  the  la  kuei  is  named  also 
t'ing.  Wu  correctly  points  out  that  this  condition  is  fulfilled  in  the 
implement  under  consideration  where  the  upper  left  comer  is  chamfered, 
and  that  this  chamfered  portion  is  identical  with  the  so-called  hartimer’s 
head.'  \Vu  dilates  on  a discussion  of  this  term  which  may  be  safely 
omitted  here,  being  of  philological,  not  archaxilogical  interest,  and  which 
would  require  the  reproduction  of  the  text  in  Chinese  characters  to 
become  intelligible.  He  finally  reminds  us  of  the  so-called  medicine- 
spades  (yao  ch'an)  in  connection  with  this  hammer.  We  may  safely 
adopt  the  sober  and  judicious  result  of  Wu’s  investigation  which  is 
based  on  and  in  full  harmony  with  the  statements  of  the  Chou  li,  and 
which  furnishes  a satisfactory  explanation  of  the  peculiar  features  of 
this  instrument.  While  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  so  far  as  to  regard 
it  as  a real  hammer,  it  shares  the  essential  characteristics  of  a stone 
hammer,  j)crhaps  with  some  modifications  growing  out  of  its  ritualistic 
purpose.  Its  identification  with  the  chen  kuei  of  the  Chou  period  is 
further  justified  in  that  it  agrees  in  regard  to  its  length  with  the  measure 


'Biot  (Vol.  II,  p.  522)  was  unable  to  render  the  passage  correctly,  as  he  had  no 
knowledge  of  what  this  object  really  wils,  and  as  the  Chinese  drawing,  the  result  of 
an  imaginary  attempt  at  reconstruction,  was  naturally  apt  to  lead  him  astray.  This 
figure  shows  a rectangular  wedge  with  a square  knob  at  the  end.  It  is  figured  also 
in  De  Gkoot  (The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  VI,  p.  1172)  who  is  inclined  to 
regard  this  implement  as  an  exerciser  of  demons  in  connection  with  solar  worship. 


90 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


of  twelve  inches  given  in  the  Chou  li  when  recalculated  on  the  foot- 
measure  of  that  period.  The  so-called  chen  kuei,  the  tablet  or  s\Tnbol 


of  imperial  power,  was  accordingly 
jade. 


a hammer-shaped  implement  of 


Fig.  21.  Fig.  22. 

Jade  Hammer-Shaped  Symbols  of  Imperial  Power,  chin  kuei. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


91 


\Vu  Ta-ch'eng  figures  three  further  specimens  of  a similar  t\'pe 
(Figs.  21-23),  also  designated  as  chen  kiiei,  but  in  the  latter  cases,  this 
identification  seems  rather  doubtful  and  somewhat  hazarded,  for  the 
chief  characteristics  of  the  former  implement  are  lacking  here.  None 
of  these  objects  is  provided  with  the  large  central  perforation,  but  they 
have  only  small  holes  drilled  through  the  base  near  the  edge,  and  these 
could  have  been  utilized  for  no  other  purpose  than  for  the  passage  of  a 
cord.  One  of  them,  reproduced  in  Fig.  22,  has  on  its  lower  side  two 
pairs  of  shallow  cavities  communicating  through  a passage  below  the 
surface,  so  that  a wire  or  a thread  could  be  drawn  through.  The  same 
piece  entirely  lacks  the  chamfered  hammer-head-like  portion  which  is 
rather  weakly  developed  in  Fig.  21;  if  there  it  is  not  due  to  a mere 
accidental  cause,  as  the  two  rounded  notches  would  seem  to  indicate, 
while  it  is  plainly  brought  out  with  manifest  intention  in  Fig.  23. 
Whereas  it  is  apparent  that  these  three  pieces  belong  to  the  type  of 
kuei,  they  cannot  be  traced  back  to  that  of  the  chen  kuei.  \Vu  evinces 
a feeling  of  a similar  kind,  because  also  their  measures  deviate  from  the 
standard  type  of  twelve  inches.  The  piece  in  Fig.  21  is  described  as 
being  of  dark-green  jade,  that  in  Fig.  22  of  the  same  color  mixed  with 
black  spots,  and  that  in  Fig.  23  as  uniformly  red. 

The  jade  object  '■  in  Fig.  24  is  identified  by  Wu  with  the  ta  kuei  or 
great  tablet  which,  according  to  the  Chou  li,  was  carried  by  the  emperor 
in  his  girdle  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  484).  We  have  alluded  above  to  the  other 
passage  which  says  that  this  instrument  was  to  be  three  feet  long, 
made  sloping  above  so  as  to  fonn  a hammer’s  head.  But  the  specimen 
in  question  is  only  one  foot  nine  inches  long.  Wu  conjectures  that  the 
datum  of  three  feet  in  the  Chou  li  may  be  a mistake  for  two  feet.  Such 
an  error  may  have,  of  course,  crept  into  the  text,  but  the  attempted 
amendment  will  never  rise  above  the  degree  of  a conjecture.  In  its 
favor  it  might  be  said  that  three  feet  seems  to  represent  a considerable 
length  for  an  object  to  be  placed  in  the  girdle,  and  that  one  only  two 
feet  long  would  do  much  nicer  in  view  of  this  purpose.  Whether  this 
specimen  may  be  justly  identified  with  the  ta  kuei  or  not,  it  loses  noth- 
ing of  its  great  value.  It  is  most  interesting  in  that  it  shows  the  four 
corners  chamfered  or,  according  to  the  Chinese  idea,  hammer-shaped; 
that  is  to  say,  in  this  specimen,  this  feature  has  developed  into  a mere 
ornamental  form,  void  of  any  practical  use.  The  lower  end  is  apparent- 
ly shaped  into  a handle,  and  two  hammer-shaped  faces  are  here  part 

^It  is  described  under  the  heading:  "It  has  also  the  name  t'ing;  of  dark-green 

jade  with  black  designs  under  which  two  figures  like  a dragon  and  phenix  seem  to  be 
hidden  [a  natural  phenomenon  in  the  stone  causing  this  impression];  below  the 
perforation,  there  is  to  the  extent  of  three  or  four  inches  a zone  of  yellow  color.  The 
illustration  is  by  smaller  than  the  implement  {i.  e.  half  of  the  original  size).” 


92 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History — • Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


of  the  handle.  This  piece,  accordingly,  represents  a much  advanced 
stage  of  conventionalization  compared  with  the  ceremonial  hammer 
in  Fig.  20.  Its  development  is  conceivable  only  when  it  is  referred  to 
the  latter,  and  if  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  it. 


Fig.  24. 

Jade  Hammer  and  Knife-Shaped  Symbols  of  Imperial  Power,  chin  ktiei  and  la  kuei. 


Fig.  26. 

Round  Jade  Tablets,  yuan  kuci. 


Fig.  25. 


Fig.  27. 


94  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  specimen  in  Fig.  23  becomes  more 
intelligible ; here  too  the  hammer  form  has  sunk  into  a purely  decorative 
trait,  as  is  obvious  from  the  rectangular  shape  of  the  object  which  is 
unfit  for  any  pounding.  The  perforation  bears  further  testimony  to  its 
ornamental  utilization.  While  the  primeval  form  in  Fig.  20  shows  in 
its  outlines  the  design  of  a hammer  or  axe,  the  pieces  in  Figs.  21-24 
exhibit  the  rectangular  shapes  of  knives  identical  with  the  jade 
knives  described  above  on  pp.  38,  39.  These  original  knife-forms  have 
then  been  modified  in  Figs.  23  and  24  under  the  influence  of  the 
imperial  hammer-symbol  which  lent  to  them  the  j^eculiar  feature  of 
a chamfered  edge  or  edges.  The  development  then  terminated  in 
pieces  like  Figs.  21  and  22  where  this  trait  has  disappeared.  Their 
apparent  relation  to  the  imperial  hammer  is  conclusive  evidence  also 
of  this  series  having  formed  sj-mbols  reserv'ed  to  the  emperor.  This 
group  represented  by  Figs.  21-24  may  therefore  be  defined  as  knife- 
shaped imperial  emblems  of  jade  developed  by  a process  of  adapta- 
tion and  conventionalization  from  the  hammer-shaped  sjTnbol  of 
sovereign  power. 

Figures  25-27  represent  three  specimens  of  the  so-called  “round  tab- 
lets” {yiian  kuei)  which,  as  we  saw  from  the  report  of  the  Chou  li  (p.  83) 
symbolize  virtue  by  their  rounded  shape  and  are  bestowed  by  the  em- 
peror upon  virtuous  vassal  princes.  The  piece  in  Fig.  25  is  of  dark -green 
’ jade,  and  twelve  inches  (modem)  long  corresponding  to  nine  inches  of 
the  Chou  time  which  is  the  required  measure  for  this  tablet.  Wu  says 
he  acquired  it  at  the  bazar  of  the  city  of  Ts'i-ning  in  Shantung,  and  has 
no  doubt  of  its  being  an  ancient  yiian  kuei.  The  word  yiian  is  explained 
after  Tuan  as  a mound  consisting  of  two  superposed  hills  {k'iu)  and 
identical  with  the  notion  of  a hillock ; this  hillock  is  seen  in  the  rounded 
top.  Wu  quotes,  besides  the  commentaries  mentioned  by  us,  a pa.ssage 
from  Tai  Teii,  the  author  of  a Ritual  known  under  the  name  Ta  Tat  li 
(“Ritual  of  the  senior  Tai”)  as  sa\4ng  “that  the  points  in  all  tablets 
called  kuei  are  one  inch  and  a half  long;  if  this  point  is  made  level  by 
angular  measurement  to  form  just  a tme  right  angle,  the  yiian  kuei  rises 
with  its  lofty  height.”  This  quotation  shows  how  fond  the  Chinese 
mind  of  the  Chou  period  was  of  geometrical  constructions  and  geometric 
symbolism,  as  the  round  line  could  be  sjTnbolic  of  the  perfection  of 
qualities.  The  virtue-emblem  in  Fig.  26  is  of  similar  shape,  of  dark- 
green  jade  with  earth  spots,  reduced  to  Jo  by  Wu,  and  therefore  appears 
somewhat  larger  than  the  other;  that  in  Fig.  27  is  of  red  jade,  a piece 
being  broken  off  below,  but  otherwise  a large  yiian  of  twelve  inches. 

In  Fig.  28,  Wu  has  illustrated,  without  further  explanation,  a type 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


95 


Fig.  28. 

Jade  Tablet,  is'ing  kuei. 


Fig.  29. 

Pointed  Jade  Tablet,  yen  kuei. 


q6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

called  ts'ing  kuei,  “dark  or  green  tablet,”  of  dark -green  jade,  reduced 
to  ; its  shape  is  evidently  derived  from  that  of  an  axe.* 


In  Fig.  29  the  yen  kuei  or  pointed  tablet,  characterized  above  (p.  83) 
according  to  the  Chou  li,  is  reproduced.  “It  is  of  black  jade,  i of  the 
'Compare  the  chapter  Jade  in  Religious  Worship,  p.  172. 


Feb.,  1912. 


97 


J.'VDE. 

original  size  (in  W u’s  reproduction),  above  made  into  the  shape  of  a 
half-circle,  the  two  horns  a bit  broken.”  The  author  opens  the  ex- 
planatory text  by  saying  that  the  color  of  jade  is  unifonnly  black, 
i.  e.  not  mixed  with  any  other  color,  which  is  not  identical  with  what  is 
usually  designated  as  sat- 
urated with  mercury. 

Wu  develops  a peculiar 
view  in  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  crescent- 
shaped upper  edge  which 
he  sets  in  relation  to  the 
ancient  form  of  a writ- 
ten s\Tnbol  for  a lance- 
head  (reproduced  to  the 
left  of  Fig.  29),  and  re- 
marks, that,  while  all 
other  kiiei  derive  their 
form  from  a hammer- 
head, this  is  the  only  one 
to  derive  it  from  a lance- 
head.  This  assumption, 
however,  is  not  forcible 
and  finds  no  echo  in  any 
ancient  document;  while, 
as  the  other  kuei,  this 
one  also  goes  back  to 
the  same  original  fonn 
of  a weapon,  the  pecu- 
liar features  of  its 
shape  can  be  suffi- 
ciently explained  as  a 
geometrical  construc- 
tion based  on  the 
curious  symbolism 
connected  with  it. 

In  the  jade  tablet'  of  Fig.  30  (of  green  jade  with  black  stripes)  Wu 
believes  to  recognize  the  “tablet  with  grain-pattern,”  mentioned  above 
after  the  Chou  li,  which  the  emperor  bestowed  on  his  bride  elect.  The 
upper  face  of  this  tablet  (Fig.  30  a)  is  decorated  with  five  vertical  rows 
of  raised  knobs,  five  being  the  number  of  the  earth,  — arranged  in 
the  numbers  9,  10,  ii,  10,  9,  yielding  the  sum  of  49,  by  which  also  a 
sjTTibohsm  was  presumal)ly  expressed.  The  lower  face  of  the  tablet 


T>-  i 

^>4  Jl 


Fio.  31. 

Jade  Tablet  kufi  on  a Han  Bas-Relief  (from  Kin-shih  so). 


98  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


(Fig.  30  b)  is  ornamented  with  a diapered  pattern  of  lozenges.  It  mtU 
be  noticed  that  the  shape  of  this  tablet  kuei,  — an  oblong  rectangle 


Fig.  32.  Fig.  33. 

Jade  Tablets,  kuei. 

sumiounted  by  a roof,  — agrees  with  the  familiar  traditional  form 
under  u hich  the  kuei  has  been  handed  down  in  the  later  illustrations 
of  the  Rituals  and  as  a frequent  emblem  in  the  hands  of  Taoist  deities. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


99 


The  best  idea  of  the  authentic  shape  of  this  jade  tablet  knei  will  be 
conveyed  by  the  engraving  on  stone  preserved  on  the  Han  bas-reliefs 
of  Wu-liang  (Fig.  31,  reproduced  after  the  Kin-shih  so)  where  it  appears 
among  “the  marvellous  objects  of  good  omen”  (/«  jiii)  aecompanied 
by  the  inscription,  “The  black  tablet:  when  the  rivers  and  sources  flow 
and  reach  the  four  oceans  in  such  a way  that  all  waters  communicate, 
then  it  wdll  appear.”  This  sentence  is  doubtless  prompted  by  the 
alleged  black  jade  tablet  of  the  Emperor  Yu  {Shu  king,  Yii  kung  38, 
ed.  CouvREUR,  p.  89),  by  means  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  obtained 
control  over  the  waters  of  the  flood.  The  e.xtraordinary  feature  pf 
this  tablet  is  only  the  black-colored  jade  and  perhaps  al-so  its  ornamen- 
tation, — a network  of  lozenges  with  dots  in  the  centres.  The  editors  of 
the  Kin-shih  so  refer  to  its  identity  with  that  on  the  pi-liu-li  (Fig.  39). 
They  call  it  sie  lou  “slanting  bushels”  {tou,  a measure  of  capacity). 
The  shape  of  this  tablet  is  presumably  derived  from  that  of  a spear. 

Pan  Ku,  the  author  of  the  Po  hu  t'ung,  who  died  in  92  a.  d.,  remarks 
that  the  tablet  kuei  is  pointed  above  and  angular  below,  and  that  the 
tapering  part  means  the  male  principle  yang,  and  the  lower  square 
portion  the  female  principle  yin.  This  may  hint  at  a possible  original 
phallic  significance  of  this  emblem,  and  such  a supposition  would  be 
corroborated  by  the  two  facts  that  the  kuei  wdth  the  grain  emblem  is 
conferred  by  the  emperor  upon  his  consort,  thus  perhaps  alluding  to 
their  progeny,  and  that  “the  green  kuei”  is  utilized  as  a s^nnbol  in  the 
worship  of  the  East  corresponding  to  the  spring  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  434).^ 

There  were  also  other  shapes  of  kuei,  as  we  see  from  the  definition 
of  the  Shuo  wen  that  they  are  round  above  and  angular  below,  and  from 
the  two  specimens  of  Wu  in  Figs.  32  and  33,  both  simply  designated 
as  kuei,  no  further  explanations  being  given.  In  Fig.  32,  the  upper 
edge  is  concave,  and  in  Fig.  33  it  forms  a straight  line.  It  seems  likely 
that  also  these  tablets  are  derived  from  knife-shaped  implements. 

This  type  kuei  is  doubtless  very  ancient  and  may  go  as  far  back  as 
the  Shang  dynasty.  At  least,  we  hear  in  one  report  of  jade  tablets 
buried  in  the  grave  of  Pi  Kan  (twelfth  century  b.  c.). 

In  the  Mo  chuang  man  lu^  it  is  on  record:  “ In  the  period  Cheng-ho 

*On  traces  of  phallicism  in  China  see  E.  C.  Baber,  Travels  and  Researches  in 
Western  China,  p.  19  {Royal  Geographical  Society,  Supplementary  Papers,  Vol.  I, 
London,  1886). 

*In  ten  chapters,  written  by  Chang  P.ang-ki  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century.  It  contains  a large  collection  of  facts,  supplementary  to  the  nat  onal 
records;  and  although  some  incredible  marvels  occasionally  find  a place  in  the  course 
of  the  work,  there  is  much  to  establish  the  author's  reputation  for  depth  of  research 
and  penetration  (A.  Wylie,  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature,  p.  164).  The  work  is 
reprinted  in  the  collection  Shuo  ling  (30  Vols.,  1800)  a copy  of  which  was  procured 
by  me  for  the  John  Crerar  Library  of  Chicago  (No.  1 19). 


loo  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

(1111-1117  A.  D.),^  the  Imperial  Court  was  anxious  to  hunt  up  bronze 
vessels  of  the  San-tai  period  (the  three  dynasties  Hia,  Shang,  and  Chou). 
Ch’^ng  T'ang  who  was  Collector  of  Taxes  on  Tea  and  Horses  {T'i  lien 
ch'a  ma)  of  Shensi,  and  Li  Ch’ao-ju  who  was  Intendant  of  Grain  {Chuan 
yiin)  of  Shensi,  despatched  a man  to  Feng-siang  fu  (Shensi  Province) 
to  break  up  the  grave  of  Pi  Kan  of  the  Shang  dynasty  ^ where  he  found 
a bronze  plate  of  more  than  two  feet  in  diameter,  with  an  inscription 
consisting  of  sixteen  characters  on  it.  He  further  found  jade  slips, 
forty-three  pieces,  over  three  inches  in  length,  in  the  upper  part  rounded 
and  pointed  {i.  e.  shaped  like  a Gothic  arch),  in  the  lower  part  broad  and 
angular;  they  were  half  a finger  in  thickness.  The  color  of  the  jade 
was  bright  and  lustrous.  These  objects  were  all  widely  different 
from  those  buried  as  substitutes  for  human  sacrifices  {smi  tsang).” 

Under  the  name  chang  (Giles  No.  400)  a series  of  jade  tablets  is 
comprised  which  are  explained  as  representing  the  half  of  the  tablet 
kuei  divided  in  its  length  from  top  to  bottom. 

The  tablet  chang  is  mentioned  as  early  as  in  the  Shi  king  (ed.  Legge, 
Vol.  II,  p.  3o6;cd.  Couvreur,  p.  223):  “On  the  birth  of  a boy,  a jade 

tablet  will  be  given  him  to  play  with,”  as  an  emblem  of  the  dignity 
with  which  he  is  hoped  to  be  invested  when  grown  up.  Thus,  the  word 
lung  chang  “one  playing  \rith  the  chang''  has  come  to  assume  the 
meaning  of  a new-born  son.  The  girl,  according  to  the  same  song, 
will  receive  a tile,  “the  emblem  of  her  future  emplojTnent  when,  on 
a tile  upon  her  knee,  she  wall  have  to  twist  the  threads  of  hemp” 
(Legge).  Prof.  Giles,  alluding  to  this  passage  in  his  valuable  notes  on 
“Jade”  {Adversaria  Sinica,  No.  9,  p.  312,  Shanghai,  1911)  justly  com- 
ments on  its  sense  as  follows:  “It  has  been  too  hastily  inferred  [from 

this  passage]  that  the  Chinese  have  themselves  admitted  their  absolute 
contempt  for  women  in  general.  Yet  this  idea  never  really  entered  into 
the  mind  of  the  writer.  The  jade  tablet,  it  is  true,  was  a s\Tnbol  of 
rule;  but  the  tile,  so  far  from  being  a mere  potsherd  implying  discour- 
tesy, was  really  an  honorable  s^nnbol  of  domesticity,  being  used  in 
ancient  times  as  a weight  for  the  spindle.” 

In  the  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  525),  three  kinds  of  chang  are  dis- 
tinguished regulated  according  to  length  at  nine,  nine  and  seven  inches, 
res])ectively,  and  called  great  {la),  middle  (chung),  and  side  (pien). 
According  to  K'ung  Ying-ta,  as  quoted  by  Biot,  these  three  chang  are 

*The  art-loving  Emperor  Hui  Tsung  reigned  at  that  time  (1101-1125). 

'Put  to  death  by  the  last  emperor  of  that  dynasty.  See  Chavannes,  Se-ma 
Ts'ien,  Vol.  I,  pp.  199,  203,  206-7.  Se-ma  Ts'ien  {also  Shu-king,Ch.  Wu-ch'ing, 
informs  us  that  a tumulus  was  placed  over  the  grave  of  Pi  Kan,  so  that  it  was  very 
possible  to  identify  his  burial-place.  A photograph  of  this  tomb  is  reproduced  in 
the  journal  Kuo  stiei  hio  pao,  Vol.  V,  Xo.  i. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


lOI 


in  reality  basins  to  hold  aromatic  wnne,  but  another  opinion  is  expressed 
by  Cheng  K’ang-ch'eng  who  says:  “For  the  great  mountains  and 

rivers,  the  great  chang  is  used,  with 
the  addition  of  ornaments;  for  the 
middle  mountains  and  rivers,  the  mid- 
dle chang  is  used,  with  proportionately 
smaller  ornaments;  for  the  small 
mountains  and  rivers,  the  pien  chang 
was  used,  with  only  a half  decoration, 

— which  may  be  recognized  from  the 
fact  that  only  the  upper  half  of  the 
chang  is  carved  wdth  ornaments.” 

The  jade  tablet  in  Fig.  34  has  been 
identified  by  Wu  with  this  taljlet 
chang,  and  it  is  possibly  a pint  chang. 

The  linear  ornaments  in  the  triangular 
portion  are  engraved  only  on  the  upper 
face,  the  lower  face  being  plain.  It 
is  stated  to  be  of  green  jade  with  russet 
speckles. 

The  Chou  It  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  527) 
mentions  a jade  tablet  called  ya  chang, 
i.  e.  the  tablet  chang  vfith  a tooth 
which  serves  to  mobilize  troops,  and 
to  administrate  the  military  posts. 

Hence,  says  Wu  Ta-ch'j§:ng,  its  form 
has  been  chosen  from  among  military 
weapons,  and  its  head  resembles  a 
knife,  while  its  long  sides  have  no 
blade ; it  usually  goes  under  the  name 
of  “jade  knife”  {yii  lao);  in  all  kuei 
and  chang,  the  two  sides  are  straight 
whereas  this  one  is  the  only  type  wfith 
sides  curved  like  teeth,  and  hence  the 
name.  Figure  35  illustrates  the  spec- 
imen thus  described  which  is  of  dark- 
green  and  white  jade;  it  has  the 
shape  of  a knife  with  sloping  upper 
and  lower  edges  and  a pierced  handle  clearly  set  off  from  the 
body.  The  commentator  Cheng  Se-nung  remarks:  “The  ya  chang 

is  carved  into  the  shape  of  a tooth;  teeth  sxTnbolize  warfare, 
and  hence  troops  are  le\dcd  by  means  of  this  instrument,  for 


Fig.  34- 

Jade  Tablet,  chang. 


102  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


r 

1 


o 


which  purpose  bronze  tallies  in  the  shape  of  a tiger  are  used  at 
present.” ^ 

In  the  Chou  li,  two  kinds  of  these  chang  are  distinguished,  the  one 
being  the  ya  chang  mentioned,  the  other  being 
called  chiing  chang,  i.  e.  middle  chang,  both  of  the 
same  length  of  nine  inches  (seven  for  the  body 
and  two  for  the  point  or  tooth).  The  present 
specimen  in  Fig.  35,  however,  is  seventeen  inches 
and  a half  long,  so  that  Wu,  because  of  this  dis- 
crepancy, suspects  that  it  is  an  object  of  the  time 
posterior  to  the  Eastern  Chou,  i.  e.  of  the  time 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  Chou  dynasty  reckoned 
from  B.  c.  722.  The  Chinese  illustrators  like  Xieh 
Tsung-i  of  the  Sung  ])eriod,  the  author  of  the  San 
li  t'u,  have  depicted  this  instrument  in  the  form  of 
a rectangle  with  a sloping  row  of  seven  saw-like 
teeth  in  the  upper  edge,  taken  in  by  the  explana- 
tions of  commentaries  speaking  of  a plurality  of 
teeth  which,  as  we  noted,  exists  in  our  specimen, 
but  which  must  not  be  imagined  in  a continuous 
row.  Wu’s  specimen  is  a palpable  and  living  reality, 
NTeii’s  drawing  a fantasy  corresponding  to  no  real 
or  ])ossible  object. 

We  see  that  all  these  jade  sjunbols  of  sovereign 
power  are  imitations  of  implements  and  derive  their 
shapes  from  hammers  and  knives,  possibly  also 
from  lance  and  spear-heads.  This  investigation 
unveils  a new  aspect  of  most  ancient  Chinese  reli- 
gion, for  I concur  with  Prof.  De  Groot  (/.  c.)  in 
the  opinion  that  these  emblems  were  originally 
connected  with  some  form  of  solar  worship.  In  the 
Chou  period,  only  slight  vestiges  of  this  cult 
appear  on  the  surface;  the  emblems  themselv^es 
had  then  sunk  into  a mere  conventional  and 
traditional,  nay,  an  hieroglyphic  use  \Hthin  the 
boundaries  of  the  rigid  official  system.  The 
geometric  forms  and  lines  of  these  emblems 
were  curiously  explained  in  the  sense  of  sober 
moral  household  "maxims  as  they  befitted  a 
patriarchal  government  based  on  an  ethical 
state  policy.  These  rational  reflections  growing  out  of  Confucian 


Jt 


Fig.  3S. 

Jade  Tablet,  ya  chang. 


‘7.  e.  in  the  Han  period. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


103 


state  wnsdom  can  certainly  lay  no  claim  to  representing  an  original 
or  primeval  stage  of  s>Tnbolism.  On  the  contrary,  they  indicate  a 
recasting  of  primeval  ideas  of  a remote  antiquity  into  the  particular 
mould  of  the  spirit  of  the  Chou  time.  In  the  same  manner,  as 
these  ceremonial  insignia  point  back  to  primitive  implements  from 
which  they  were  developed,  so  also  the  ideas  associated  with  them 
in  the  age  of  the  Chou  point  to  a more  rudimentarv  and  elcmentarv 
form  of  symbolism  and  worship.  The  Chou  emj^eror  worshipped 
the  sun  by  holding  in  his  hands  the  hammer-shaped  jade  symibol 
of  sovereignty.  This  means,  in  my  opinion,  that  at  a prehistoric  age 
a jade  (or  perhaps  common  stone)  hammer  was  regarded  as  the  actual 
image  of  the  solar  deity  worshipped  by  the  sovereign,  and  I believe 
that  the  burial  of  jade  implements  in  the  Chou  period,  discussed  in  the 
previous  chapter,  was  as  a last  survival  also  connected  with  this  ancient 
cult  of  the  sun.  We  thus  find  in  prehistoric  China  the  same  condition 
of  religious  beliefs  as  is  pointed  out  for  prehistoric  Europe. 

SoPHUS  Muller  (Urgeschichte  Europas,  p.  15 1.  Strassburg,  1905) 
sums  up  as  follow's:  “On  Crete,  the  axe  was  wwshipped;  it  was  not  a 

symbol,  but  the  direct  image  of  the  deity;  supernatural  power  resided 
in  it.  The  same  ideas  must  have  obtained  also  in  other  parts  of  Greece 
and  the  rest  of  Europe;  in  Italy  and  Scandinavia,  there  are  stone  and 
bronze  hatchets,  either  too  small  or  too  large  for  real  use;  in  Scandinavia, 
there  are  large  and  small  hatchets  of  amber;  in  the  French  stone  cham- 
bers or  on  stones  freely  exposed,  axe-blades  and  shafted  axes  are  carved 
in.  Everywvhere,  the  axe  appears,  but  not  a deity  holding  it,  as  in  the 
subsequent  mythologies.  The  sun  w’as  w^orshipped  as  a deity;  the 
round  disk  appears  caiw’ed  on  stone  slabs  in  Scandinavia,  England 
and  Ireland,  as  it  plays  a role  in  religious  representations  also  in  the 
south  and  in  the  orient.  The  personal  solar  god,  how’ever,  arises  in 
Greece  but  late  in  the  last  millennium  b.  c.,  and  from  the  northern 
regions  of  Europe  w^e  are  ignorant  of  an  image  of  him.  The  fact 
that  originally  an  impersonal  solar  deity  was  adored  is  best  confirmed 
by  the  bronze  solar  disk  on  a chariot  drawm  by  a horse  from  Nord- 
Seeland  (Denmark).” 


III.  ASTRONOMICAL  INSTRUMENTS  OF  JADE 

In  the  second  chapter  of  the  Shu  king  {Shun  lien,  5),  it  is  said  wdth 
regard  to  the  mythical  Emperor  Shun  that  he  examined  an  instrument 
called  siian  ki  yil  heng  of  which  he  availed  himself  to  regulate  the  Seven 
Governors  {i.  e.  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  five  planets).*  This  passage 
has  therefore  been  understood  by  Chinese  and  foreign  commentators 
in  the  sense  that  Shun  employed  a kind  of  astronomical  instrument 
manufactured,  as  inference  from  the  name  allows,  of  jade;  for  the  first 
word  in  the  compound  siian  (Giles  No.  4813)  is  interpreted  as  desig- 
nating a kind  of  fine  jade;  ki  yii  heng  is,  according  to  Wu  Ta-ch'&ng, 
the  designation  for  the  astronomical  instrument,  so  that  the  translation 
of  the  name  would  be  “the  astronomical  instrument  ki  yii  heng  made 
of  the  jade  siian.”  Others,  however,  present  the  opinion  that  only  the 
word  ki  signifies  an  instrument,  and  that  the  term  yU  heng  means  a 
part  of  this  instrument  itself,  taken  literally  in  the  sense  of  a piece  or 
tube  of  jade  placed  crosswise  over  the  machine.  It  is  undoubtedly 
this  literal  interpretation  which  has  given  impetus  to  the  later  concep- 
tion of  this  instrument  as  of  a regular  armillary  sphere,  and  which  has 
resulted  in  the  reconstruction  of  an  elaborate  figure  repeated  in  many 
Chinese  books  on  astronomy  reproduced  in  Couvreur’s  edition  of  the 
Shu  king,  p.  15.  This  is  a complex  apparatus  of  spheroid  shape  rep- 
resenting the  celestial  sphere  with  the  equator.  We  need  hardly  insist 
on  the  fact  that  this  Chinese  illustration  is  simply  a reproduction  of  the 
armillary  sphere  constructed  as  late  as  in  the  Mongol  period  of  the 
thirteenth  century,^  and  that  it  cannot  be  adduced  as  evidence  for  the 
supposed  astronomical  instrument  of  the  ancient  legendary  Emperor 
Shun.  At  the  outset,  it  is  most  unlikely  that  such  a complicated  ma- 
chine should  have  been  constructed  at  that  mythical  age. 

Our  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  is  doubtless  more  fortunate  in  identifjdng  the 
instrument  siian-ki  with  a perforated  disk  of  jade  described  by  him  as 
“white  interspersed  with  russet  spots.”  As  will  be  seen  from  Fig.  36 
reproducing  this  piece,  the  outer  edge  of  the  ring  is  very  curiously 
shaped  and  divided  into  three  sections  of  equal  length  marked  off  by  a 
deep  incision  forming  a pointed  angle  on  the  inner  and  a pointed  projec- 

* Compare  Schlegel,  Uranographie  chinoise,  p.  504. 

Compare  A.  Wylie,  The  Mongol  Astronomical  Instruments  in  Peking,  pp.  5 
et  seq.  (in  his  Chinese  Researches)  and  Plate  A. — Chang  H6ng  (78-139  A.  D.),  an 
eminent  astronomer  and  mathematician  of  the  Han  period,  is  said  to  have  constructed 
an  armillary  sphere  (Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  Mo.  55). 

104 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade.  io^ 

tion  at  the  outer  side.  Each  of  these  three  divisions  is  indented  in  such 
a \\  a\  that  six  small  teeth  of  irregular  shape  ^ project  over  the  edge  leav- 
ing five  slightly  cun^ed  notches  in  their  interstices.  It  will  further  be 
noticed  that  these  three  divisions  are  treated  much  alike  in  their  meas- 
urements, that  the  protruding  teeth  and  their  interstices  bear  the  same 


Fig.  36. 

Jade  Astronomical  Instrument  siian-ki. 


shape  and  measurements  in  each  section,  and  that  the  total  of  teeth  is 
arranged  in  the  same  distance  from  the  ends  of  each  section  which  on 
the  one  side  is  double  that  of  the  other  side.  As  number  and  measure- 
ment plays  such  a significant  part  in  all  these  ancient  jade  pieces,  we 
are  justified  in  concluding  that  also  here  a well  meditated  symbolism 
is  intended,  that  the  main  division  of  the  circle  into  three  parts,  the 
six  teeth  and  the  five  notches  as  well  as  their  regular  formations  and  the 
regular  proportions  of  all  parts  must  have  a peculiar  meaning.  Each 

'\Vu  Ta-ch'£ng  calls  them  kua  (Giles  No.  6288)  “nocks  of  an  arrow.” 


io6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Amtii.,  Vol.  X. 

division,  it  will  be  seen,  consists  of  altogether  seven  lines  which  could 
be  interpreted  as  s\Tnbolical  of  the  Seven  Governors,  i.  e.  the  sun,  the 
moon,  and  the  five  planets,  to  which  the  instrument  employed  by  Shun, 
according  to  the  passage  in  the  Shii  king,  was  devoted.  In  this  case, 
I should  like  to  regard  the  longest  line  as  the  s>nnbol  of  the  sun  and  the 
line  opposite  this  one,  on  the  other  side  of  the  section,  being  half  the 
length  of  the  sun-line,  as  emblematic  of  the  moon,  while  the  five  inden- 
tations between  might  denote  the  five  planets.  The  question  would 
now  be,  — what  is  the  triple  repetition  of  this  design  to  mean?  But 
not  being  an  astronomer,  I do  not  feel  like  embarking  on  this  problem 
and  must  leave  its  solution  to  specialists  in  this  field;  perhaps  M.  L. 
de  Saussure  will  find  here  a welcome  task  for  the  exercise  of  his  acumen. 

Wu  Ta-ch'eng  has  illustrated  also  the  lower  side  of  this  instrument 
(Fig.  37)  which  is  altogether  identical  with  its  upper  side,  except  that 
there  is  a fourfold  division  of  the  circle  by  lines  into  four  parts  of  differ- 
ent size.  The  author  has  made  no  statement  regarding  this  feature; 
it  can  hardly  be  otherwise  than  that  these  lines  are  not  accidental  or 
natural  veins  in  the  stone,  but  saw-marks  originating  from  cutting 
the  disk  out  of  the  living  stone  into  its  present  shape. 

From  Chavannes’  translation  of  Se-ma  Ts'ien’s  Annals  (Vol.  I, 
p.  58)  it  will  be  seen  that  Se-ma  Ts'ien  has  developed  a fundamentally 
different  view  of  the  above  passage  of  the  Shu  king.  He  thinks  that 
the  seven  stars  of  the  Great  Bear  are  here  involved,  and  is  no  doubt 
prompted  to  this  view  by  the  fact  that  the  expression  yii-heng  denotes 
also  the  star  Alioth  e or  the  three  stars  piao  in  the  Great  Bear;  he 
would  mean  to  say  that  Shun  observed  the  seven  stars  to  determine 
the  seven  domains  on  which  they  exert  their  influence,  i.e.  the  four 
seasons,  the  movements  of  the  astral  bodies,  the  configuration  of  the 
earth,  and  the  conduct  of  man.  This  explanation  is  far-fetched  and 
artificial,  and  besides,  contradicts  Se-ma  Ts'ien’s  own  view  of  the 
Ts'i  cheng  or  Seven  Governors  which  are,  as  expounded  in  his  Chapter 
XXVII  (CiiAVANNES,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  339)  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  five 
planets. 

I should  add  that  the  symbolic  interpretation  of  the  instrument 
as  given  above  is  my  own,  and  not  that  of  Wu  Ta-ch'eng,  and  certainly 
remains  hypothetical;  it  pretends  to  be  nothing  more  than  a suggestion. 
The  Chinese  scholar  goes  only  so  far  as  to  assert  that,  owing  to  its 
peculiar  numerical  divisions,  this  jade  disk  could  have  been  utilized 
for  celestial  observations,  and  that  he  supposes  it  was  an  astronomical 
instrument  {hun  t'ien  i),  of  whose  proper  significance,  however,  we 
are  ignorant,  as  the  tradition  concerning  it  has  been  lost.  Neither  Wu 
Ta-ch'eng  is,  nor  am  I,  of  course,  naive  enough  to  believe  that  the  speci- 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


107 


men  in  question  is  identical  with  just  the  one  employed  by  the  Emperor 
Shun,  and  the  quotation  from  the  Shu  king  is  to  us  merely  a vehicle  of 
interpretation.  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  remarks  in  regard  to  the  age  of  this 
piece:  “Although  it  is  not  an  object  of  the  Hia  dynasty,  it  is,  as 


Fig.  37. 

Lower  Face  of  Astronomical  Instrument  in  Fig.  36. 


shown  by  an  examination  of  its  make-up,  not  far  off  from  the  days  of 
antiquity.” 

In  this  connection  we  should  consider  also  the  next  object  depicted 
by  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  and  here  reproduced  in  Fig.  38,  entitled  by  him  I yii, 
i.  e.  Jade  of  the  Tribes  called  I;  this  heading  is  followed  by  the  words: 
“Some  call  it  pi-liu-li;  in  its  make-up,  it  is  identical  with  the  siian-ki.” 
As  the  discussion  of  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  added  to  this  specimen  is  of 
particular  interest,  I let  a literal  translation  of  it  follow: 

“The  piece  in  question  is  a ring  (huan);  the  color  of  the  jade  is  yellow 
like  gold,  and  bright  like  amber.  It  is  not  met  with  in  present  collec- 
tions, but  a treasure  of  greatest  rarity;  judging  from  its  make-up,  it 
is  also  of  an  extraordinary  age.  In  the  convex  and  concave  parts 


io8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — An'th.,  Vol.  X. 


(i.  e.  the  indentations)  of  the  edge,  clayish  spots  are  still  preserved,^ 
so  that  it  is  decidedly  not  an  object  posterior  to  the  period  of  the  San 
tai  (Hia,  Shang  and  Chou  dynasties).  It  is  an  ancient  siin-yii-k'i 
(Giles  No.  4873).  The  chapter  Kii  niing  of  the  Chou  shu  in  the  Shu 
king  (ed.  Couvreur,  p.  352)  contains  the  two  terms  ta  yti  ‘large  jade’ 
and  I yii  ‘jade  of  the  tribes  /’,  commenting  on  which  W.ang  Su  says: 


Fig.  3«- 

Jade  of  the  Tribes  1 (/  >■«). 


ife. 

ik. 


‘/  yii  is  the  finest  jade  of  the  I tribes  of  the  east.’  Cheng  K'ang- 
ch'eng  says:  ‘Ta  yii  ‘the  large  jade’  is  the  precious  stone  {k'iu, 

Giles  No.  2321)  of  the  Hua  shan  (the  sacred  mountain  in  Shensi); 
/ yii  ‘the  jade  of  the  I tribes’  is  identical  with  the  stone  siin-yii-k'i  of 
the  north-east.’  The  dictionary  Erh  ya  explains  it  as  the  most  beautiful 
stone  of  the  eastern  region,  and  speaks  of  the  siin-yii-k'i  of  the  I-wu- 
lii,  to  which  the  commentary  of  Kuo  adds  that  I-wu-lii  is  the  name 
of  a mountain  which  is  situated  in  what  is  called  at  present  Liao  lung, 
and  that  siin-yii-k'i  belongs  to  the  class  of  jade.  The  dictionary  Shuo 
win  notes  under  the  heading  sUn  the  expression  'siin-yii-k'i  of  I-wu-lii.’ 
The  jade  of  the  I tribes  mentioned  in  the  Chou  shu  is  called  by  some  also 
a jade  vessel  (or  implement,  k'i). 

'See  Introduction,  p.  27. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.VDE. 


109 


% 


“When,  following  an  imperial  edict,  I,  Ta-Ch'eng,  proceeded  to  the 
province  of  Kirin,*  and  passed  through  Kuang-ning  hint  in  Kin  chou  in 
Feng  t'ien,  I obtained  a piece  of  jade  produced  in  the  I-wu-lii  moun- 
tains. ^ It  was  cut  and  polished  into  the  shape  of  a girdle  pendant,  in 
size  not  exceeding  an  inch.  I confess  I have  not  yet  seen  such  big 
ones.  The  common  name  is  ‘stone  of  Kin  chou.’’  It  is  not  very 
expensive  or  esteemed.  The  jade  substance  in  the  ring  under  con- 
sideration is  similar  to  the  Kin  chou  stone.  There  are  especially 
differences  between  the  old  and  the  modem  ones:  if  it  has  lain 
underground  for  a long  time,  the  color  receives  a moist  gloss  and 
reflects  under  the  light.  Truly  it  is  an  unusual  kind  of  jade. 

“Others  assert  the  identity  of  this  specimen  with  the  ancient  pi- 
liii-li.  The  dictionary  Shuo  wen  says : ‘Those  of  the  ya-shih  {ya  stones) 

possessed  with  a lustre  are  called  pi  ya;  they  are  produced  in  the  country 
of  the  Western  Turks  {Si  The  Commentary  of  Tu.\n  remarks: 

'Pi-ya  is  identical  with  pi-liu-li.'  The  Ti  li  chi  says:  ‘The  bright 

beads  for  sale  at  the  sea-ports  are  pi-liu-li.'*  The  Account  of  the 
Western  Regions  {Si  yii  chuan  in  the  Ts'ien  II an  shu)  says:  ‘The  coun- 

try of  Ki-pin  (Cashmir  at  the  time  of  the  Han)  produces  pi-liu-li.’  On 
the  stone  bas-reliefs  of  the  ancestral  hall  of  Wu-liang  of  the  Han  dynasty, 
the  motive  of  the  pi-liu-li  appears,  with  the  inscription:  “When  the 

sovereign  does  not  commit  secret  faults,  it  will  arrive.” 

Then  follows  the  well-known  passage  from  the  Wei  Ho  regarding 
the  liu-li  of  ten  different  colors  oi  Ta  Ts'in.  The  author  continues: 
“Tuan  (the  commentator  of  the  Shuo  wen,  who  lived  1735-1815)  says: 
‘The  three  characters  composing  the  word  pi-liu-li  form  the  name 
which  is  derived  from  the  (or  a)  language  of  the  II u,  in  the  same  way 
as  the  word  sun-yii-k'i  comes  from  the  language  of  the  I tribes.®  The 
people  of  the  present  time  have,  in  their  provincial  speech,  altered  the 

‘ Probably  in  1884,  when  he  was  sent  to  Corea  as  commissioner.  See  Introduction, 
p.  12. 

range  of  mountains  stretching  west  of  Mukden  (see  D.  Posdneyev,  Descrip- 
tion of  Manchuria,  V^ol.  I,  pp.  132-133,  St.  Pet.,  1897,  in  Russian;  and  Chavannes, 
Voyageurs  chinois.  Journal  asiatique,  1898,  p.  408,  Note). 

^Pi-ya-se  (Giles  No.  9009,  a kind  of  cornelian)  is  rendered  in  the  “Dictionary 
of  Four  Languages”  by  the  Emperor  K'ien-lung  (Ch.  22,  p.  66)  into  Manchu 
langca,  Tibetan  nal,  and  Mongol  nal  drddni.  Abel-Rjemusat  (Histoire  de  la  ville 
de  Khotan,  p.  168)  translates  this  word  “rubis  balais”  (balas  ruby)  and  derives  the 
Chinese  name  from  balash  or  badakhsh,  to  be  traced  to  the  name  of  the  country  of 
Badakshan.  It  is  apparently  a Turkish  word.  Nal  and  langca  go  back  to  Persian 
lal,  the  balas  ruby.  The  stone  pi-ya-se  is  used  on  the  sable  caps  of  all  ordinary 
imperial  concubines,  while  those  from  the  first  to  the  fourth  rank  are  privileged  to 
wear  a Japanese  pearl  {lung  chu),  as  is  recorded  in  the  "Institutes  of  the  Present 
Dynasty”  (To  Ts'ing  hui  tien  t'u,  Ch.  43,  p.  5). 

*1.  e.  the  stone  vai(j,urya  (and  not  precious  rings  of  glass,  nor  glass,  as  has  been 
translated:  see  farther  below). 

‘Probably  a Tungusian  language. 


no  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

two  characters  liii-li  (Giles  No.  7248,  p.  908  b)  into  liii-li  (Giles 
No.  7244).  Thus,  the  ancients  pronounced  in  their  provincial  speech 
pi-ya.  At  present,  they  are  seldom  seen  in  China,  though  in  Turkistan 
(Si  yii)  they  may  be  still  constantly  met  with.  Hence,  at  the  time  of 

the  Han,  they 
were  considered 
as  ‘marvellous 
objects  of  good 
omen.’  This  is, 
however,  a sub- 
ject not  easily 
settled,  but  one 
awaiting  the  in- 
vestigation of  a 
widely  read 
scholar.” 

This  discus- 
sion opens  a wide 
])erspective  into 
many  archaeolog- 
ical questions.  It 
is  evident  that 
our  author  is 
right  in  pointing 
to  the  similarity 
in  the  construc- 
tion of  this  piece 
with  the  preced- 
ing specimen 
siian-ki;  we  have 
here  the  same 

division  into  three  sections  and  a similar  arrangement  of  notches  in 
each,  but  they  are  irregular  and  differ  in  number  in  each  section,  so 
that  this  object  may  be  different  after  all,  or  may  have  been  employed 
for  another  purpose. 

The  identification  with  the  I yii  rests  on  the  ground  that  the  jade 
of  the  mountain  I-wu-lu  was  recognized  to  be  of  a substance  similar 
to  that  in  this  ancient  jade  ring;  we  have  no  means  to  check  this  state- 
ment, though  it  may  ver\"  well  be  so.  At  .all  events,  this  is  more  plau- 
sible than  to  regard  the  object  as  an  ancient  pi-liu-li.  The  only  rep- 
resentation of  this  ring  appears  on  the  Han  bas-reliefs  of  Wu-liang 
(Fig.  3q),  where  it  is  a plain  ring  without  notches,  identical  in  shape 


Fig.  30. 

The  Ring  pi-liuM  (from  Kin-shih  so). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


1 1 1 


with  the  common  jade  rings  called  pi,  and  engraved  with  dotted  squares 
{lo  wen  “net-pattern”).  Wu  Ta-ch'eng’s  disquisition,  however,  is  apt 
to  solve  another  problem.  We  see  that  he  takes  this  word  as  a unit 
derived  from  a foreign  language,  and  as  denoting  a precious  stone,  but 
not  as  meaning  glass,  as  believ'ed  heretofore  by  foreign  writers.  The 
translation  of  pi-tiu-li  “the  precious  ring  liu-li”  (the  latter  taken  in 
the  sense  of  “glass”)  * which,  for  the  rest,  would  be  rendered  in  Chinese 
as  lin-li  pi,  cannot,  therefore,  be  accepted;  the  word  as  a whole  is 
apparently  a derivation  from  and  phonetic  transcription  of  Sanskrit 
vaidiirya  “beryl”  or  “lapis  lazuli”  (Eitel,  Handbook  of  Chinese 
Buddhism,  p.  191;  Julien,  Methode,  No.  1374;  F.  Porter  Smith, 
Contributions  towards  the  Materia  Medica  of  China,  p.  129).  The 
Buddhist  transcription  as  given  by  Eitel  and  Julien  goes  to  show  that 
the  writing  of  the  syllable  pi  was  arbitrary  and  originally  conveyed  no 
meaning;  if  the  word  pi  “jade  ring”  was  substituted  for  it,  this  was  a 
process  of  adaptation  of  which  there  arc  many  other  e.xamples. 

■Given  by  Ch.\v.\nxes,  La  sculpture  sur  pierre  en  Chine,  p.  34.  It  seems  to 
me  that  it  is  impossible  to  assume  that  the  first  objects  in  glass  known  to  the  Chinese 
were  shaped  like  rings;  for  these  rings,  as  represented  on  the  bas-relief  and  handed 
down  to  us  in  sjKcimens  of  jade,  are  things  essentially  Chinese,  of  an  ancient  indig- 
enous form,  which  does  not  occur  in  the  west.  If  the  first  objects  of  glass  were 
imported  into  China  from  the  west,  how  should  it  have  happened  that  they  were 
shaped  into  a Chinese  form?  This  militates  against  the  opinion  that  the  pi-liu-li 
on  the  Han  bas-relief  is  supposed  to  be  of  glass;  it  is  a ring  either  of  a highly  prized 
kind  of  jade  or  of  beryl.  It  is  gratifying  to  see  that  Ch.\v.\nnes  in  his  study  Les 
pays  d’occidcnt  d’apres  le  Heou  Han  Chou  {T'oung  Pao,  1907,  p.  182)  has  now  adopted 
also  the  view  that  the  word  pi-liu-li  is  to  be  regarded  as  a unit  and  to  be  traced  back 
to  Sanskrit  vaiiurya;  but  I do  not  believe  that  the  latter  designated  the  stone  cal's 
eye,  at  least  not  in  this  early  period.  This  opinion  goes  back  to  the  small  treatise 
of  N’arahari  (edited  by  R.  Garbe,  Die  indi.schen  Mineralien,  p.  85);  there,  the 
word  vaidiirya  appears  as  one  of  the  many  designations  or  attributes  of  the  cat’s-eye, 
but  not  as  the  one  exclusive  name  of  it.  Further,  this  work  is  by  no  means  authori- 
tative, but  contains  a good  many  errors,  and  above  all,  it  represents  a recent  pro- 
duction, not  written  earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  as  Prof. 
Garbe  has  been  good  enough  to  write  me  on  ^lay  22,  1911;  his  former  calculation 
dating  this  work  between  1235  and  1250,  remarks  Prof.  Garbe,  was  due  to  an  error. 
Hence,  the  book  of  Narahari  cannot  be  quoted  as  an  authority  holding  good  for 
matters  relative  to  the  first  centuries  of  our  era.  The  cat’s  eye  is  always  called  in 
Chinese  mao-tsing  'cat’s  essence’  (see  Ko  chih  king  yuan,  Ch.  33,  p.  3),  and  there 
was  no  reason  to  adopt  the  word  pi-liu-li  with  this  meaning.  It  would  lead  us  too 
far  to  demonstrate  here  that  it  is  in  many  cases  just  the  Chinese  and  Tibetan  terms 
of  precious  stones  and  other  minerals  which  are  apt  to  shed  light  on  the  definitions 
of  the  corresponding  Sanskrit  words.  How  could  the  Tibetan  authors  distinguish 
blue,  green,  white  and  yellow  vaidiirya,  if  the  word  should  denote  the  cat’s-eye? — 
The  mystery  why  this  word  has  been  referred  also  to  the  cat’s-eye  is  easily  solved  by 
con.sulting  the  mineralogists  on  this  subject.  Cloudy  and  opaque  specimens  of 
chrysoberyl  often  exhibit  in  certain  directions  a peculiar  chatoyant  or  opalescent 
sheen  similar  to  that  of  cat’s-eye  (quartz-cat’s-eye),  only  usually  much  finer.  This 
variety  of  chrysoberyl  is  known  to  mineralogists  as  cymophane,  and  to  jewelers  as 
chrysoberyl-cat’s-eye,  oriental  cat’s-eye,  Ceylonese  cat’s-eye,  more  briefly  as  opa- 
lescent or  chatoyant  chrysober>d,  or  simply  as  cat’s-eye  (SIax  Bauer,  Precious 
Stones,  p.  302).  And  on  p.  304:  As  these  stones  are  frequently  referred  to  in  de- 
scriptions of  the  precious  stones  of  Ceylon  simply  as  cat’s-eye,  it  is  often  impossible 
to  decide  whether  chrysoberyl  or  the  variety  of  quartz,  also  known  as  cat’s-eye, 
is  meant.  See  also  E.  W.  Streeter,  Precious  Stones  and  Gems,  Part  II,  p.  40. 


1 12  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

I fail  to  see  that  the  word  liii-li  has  generally  had  the  meaning  of 
glass  which  was  and  is  called  po-li.  Special  inquiries  were  made  by  me 
in  regard  to  this  subject  in  the  glass  factories  of  Po  shan  in  Shantung 
Province  where  the  word  liu-U  wdth  reference  to  glass,  whether  franslu- 
cid  or  opaque,  is  entirely  unknown;  glass  is  called  po-U,  and  strass  or 
colored  glass  liao  (Giles  No.  7070),  while  liu-li  refers  only  to  ceramic 
glazes,  as  e.  g.  liu-li  wa  means  glazed  pottery,  and  the  use  and  distinc- 
tion of  these  three  terms  is  uniform  all  over  northern  China.  ^ 

I concur  with  Hirtii  (Chinesische  Studien,  p.  63)  in  the  view  that 
the  word  po-li  is  traceable  to  Turkish  holor.  But  then  it  is  impossible 
to  identify  the  word  pi-liii-li  also  with  bolor,  for  liu-li  and  po-li  are  two 
different  words,  and,  as  admitted  also  by  Hirtii,  two  different  articles 
or  substances ; consequently,  the  two  words  cannot  be  credited  wth  the 
same  et\Tnological  origin.  This  subject  cannot  be  pursued  any  further 
in  this  connection,  as  lying  outside  of  the  pale  of  this  publication;  I 
must  be  content  with  these  indications  which  will  possibly  lead  to  a 
revision  of  the  history  of  glass  in  China.  Nothing  could  induce  me  to 
the  belief  fostered  by  Prof.  Hirth  that  the  Chinese  with  their  ever 
vital  instinct  for  the  value  of  natural  products  and  with  their  keen 
sense  of  trade  should  ever  have  been  so  unsophisticated  as  to  mistake 
colored  glass  beads  for  precious  stones,  and  to  honor  them  wdth  exor- 
bitant prices;  no  child  in  China  could  be  enticed  into  such  a game,  and 
the  most  confiding  and  optimistic  mind  can  see  or  feel  the  difference 
between  glass  and  stone.  Certainly,  the  liu-li  looked  upon  by  the 
Chinese  as  precious  stones  have  been  so  indeed;  they  were  vaidurya, 
whatever  species  of  precious  stone  this  word  may  have. served  to  denote. 
\Vu  Ta-ch'eng’s  discussion  goes  to  prove  that  it  is  also  the  judgment 
of  modem  Chinese  scholars  that  the  pi-liu-li  of  old  was  not  glass  or 
strass,  but  a precious  stone. 

Another  astronomical  instrument  is  mentioned  in  the  Chou  li, 
but  no  specimens  of  it  have  survived  from  which  we  could  form  any 
definite  ideas.  This  is  the  tu  kuei,  i.  e.  a jade  piece  for  measuring,  which, 
according  to  the  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  522),  should  be  one  foot  five 
inches  in  length  and  serv'e  “to  determine  the  point  where  the  sun  comes, 
and  to  measure  the  earth,”  i.  e.  it  was  an  instrument  to  measure  the 
length  of  the  solar  shadow  which  is  said  to  have  been  one  foot  and  a 
half  at  the  summer  solstice  and  thirteen  feet  at  the  wdnter  solstice, 
the  gnomon  having  eight  feet  (compare  Biot,  Vol.  I,  pp.  200-204,  488). 

I do  not  mean  to  deal  in  this  conneetion  with  the  jade  figure  known 

•Also  Bcshell  (Chinese  Art,  Vol.  I,  p.  61)  understands,  and  1 believe  correctly, 
that  what  the  artisans  from  the  kingdom  of  the  Indoscythians  taught  in  China  early 
in  the  fifth  century  was  the  art  of  making  difTerent  kinds  of  colored  glazes  {liu-li). 


as  the  “south-pointing  chariot,”  as  this  subject  has  been  amply  treated 
by  such  scholars  as  Hirth,  Giles  and  Bushell.  The  followng  references 
may  be  useful  to  readers  interested  in  this  topic.  Illustrations  of  the 
jade  figure  in  question  are  given  in  the  Ku  yil  t'u,  Ch.  i,  p.  2,  and  Ku 
yii  t'u  p'u,  Ch.  47,  p.  i,  the  former  being  reproduced  in  the  T'u  shu  tsi 
ch'mg  and  after  this  one  by  Giles  (Adversaria  Sinica,  No.  4,  p.  114); 
the  latter  has  been  reproduced  by  Bushell  in  Bishop’s  work,  Vol.  I, 
p.  31.  A corresponding  contrivance  of  bronze  is  shown  in  the  Kin- 
'sftih  so  (kin  so,  Vol.  2)  reproduced  by  Hirth  in  T'oiing  Pao,  Vol.  VII, 
1896,  p.  501,  and  after  Hirth  by  Feldh.\us  (Ruhmesblatter  der 
Technik,  p.  432,  Leipzig,  1910).  Of  modem  authors,  Hirth  (1.  c., 
pp.  498-501)  was  the  first  to  call  attention  to  this  curious  object;  see  also 
his  article  “Origin  of  the  Mariner’s  Compass  in  China”  in  The  Monist 
(Vol.  XVI,  1906,  pp.  321-330),  the  same  reprinted  in  his  “The 
Ancient  History  of  China”  (New  York,  1908,  pp.  126-136).  Dr. 
Bushell  (/.  c.)  has  translated  the  text  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u,  and  Prof. 
Giles  (The  Mariner’s  Compass,  1.  c.,  pp.  107-115)  has  elucidated  the 
whole  subject  \rith  very  valuable  comments.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  Hirth,  Bushell,  and  Giles  pursued  their  studies  independently 
one  of  another,  merely  from  Chinese  accounts,  wthout  referring  the  one 
to  the  other,  and  that  all  three  were  unaware  of  the  fact  that  this  theme 
had  been  taken  up  twice  in  our  literature  long  ago.  There  is  indeed 
nothing  new  under  the  sun, — not  even  in  sinological  re.search.  Old 
Father  De  M.aill.v  (Histoire  generale  de  la  Chine,  Vol.  XIII,  Paris, 
1785,  p.  296)  had  already  described  the  .south-pointing  chariot  of 
Ch'eng  Wang  after  the  T'ung  kien  kang  mu,  and  Edouard  Biot  (Note 
sur  la  direction  de  I’aiguille  aimantee  en  Chine,  Comptes  rendus  des 
seances  de  V Academic  des  sciences,  Vol.  XIX,  1844,  pp.  1-8)  has  studied 
this  problem  with  a great  amount  of  ingenuity  and  acumen.  If  I am 
allowed  to  express  an  opinion  on  this  subject,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
not  worth  while  wasting  energy  on  the  explanation  of  this  so-called 
chariot.  The  specimens  figured  in  the  Chinese  books  mentioned  are, 
as  so  many  other  antiquities  of  recent  date,  reconstmetions  or  restora- 
tions ba.sed  on  misconceptions  and  misunderstandings  of  the  wording 
of  the  ancient  texts,  — misunderstandings  easily  fostered  by  the  loss 
of  the  ancient  originals  so  that  unlimited  play  was  allowed  the  imagina- 
tion. That  the  jade  or  bronze  figure  itself  was  not  magnetic,  goes  with- 
out saying  and,  if  a magnetic  needle  was  employed  in  this  case,  it  was 
certainly  somewhere  suspended  freely  and  not  in  direct  contact  with 
this  figure  which  itself  is,  in  my  opinion,  an  afterthought  or  purely 
imaginative  creation  of  the  Sung  period.  However  this  may  be,  it 
has  no  importance  whatever  for  the  archajology  of  jade  and  may  be 
duly  dismissed  with  these  remarks. 


IV.  JADE  AS  WRITING-MATERIAL 


Jade  cut  into  polished  slabs  was  used  as  material  to  write  upon  in 
ancient  times,  but  its  use  was  reserv'ed  to  the  emperor.  It  was  a tablet 
called  t'ing  of  rectangular  shape  to  symbolize  that  the  emperor  should 
give  a “straight  and  square  deal”  to  all  affairs  of  the  empire,  and  he 
carried  it  in  his  girdle.  The  material  for  the  writing-tablets  of  the 
feudal  ])rinces  and  of  the  great  prefects  (called  s/m)  was  ivory;  that  of 
the  fonner  was  rounded  at  the  top  and  straight  at  the  bottom  (i.  e. 
rectangular)  to  symbolize  that  they  should  obey  the  Son  of  Heaven, 
that  of  the  latter  was  rounded  at  the  top  and  bottom  to  express  that 
they  had  only  superiors  to  obey  (Couvreur,  Li  Ki,  Vol.  I,  pp.  682, 
685).  The  general  name  for  such  tablets  serving  as  official  records 
was  /ill  (Giles  No.  4926),  apparently,  as  the  composition  of  the  char- 
acter shows,  made  of  bamboo  originally;  they  were  worn  suspended 
from  the  girdle  belonging  to  the  outfit  of  any  young  gentleman  {Li  ki, 
Mei-tse,  I,  2)  and  used  as  memoranda  for  jotting  down  any  notes.  In 
general  use  during  times  of  antiquity,  they  were  re.servcd,  at  a later 
epoch,  for  the  organs  of  government  and  became  at  the  same  time 
insignia  of  dignit}".  When  an  official  had  audience  at  court,  he  had 
inscribed  on  the  tablet  what  he  had  to  say,  and  added  what  the  emperor 
replied  or  commanded.  * From  Yen  Shih-ku  we  learn  that  the  tablets 
hu,  at  least  in  his  time,  were  made  also  of  wood;  ^ it  is  evident  that  they 
differed  in  shape,  in  their  mode  of  use  and  official  significance  from  the 
contemporaneous  bamboo  slips  and  wooden  boards  used  for  writing. 

The  notebook  of  jade  was,  accordingly,  a prerogative  of  the  cmperoi, 
but  was  used  only  during  an  abundant  season;  if  the  year  was  bad,  he 
abandoned  it  and  adopted  the  common  bamboo  tablet  of  the  ordinary 
officials,  wearing  at  the  same  time  linen  clothes;  in  the  same  way  he 
did  not  partake  of  full  meals  nor  indulge  in  music,  when  no  rain  had 
fallen  in  the  eighth  month  {Li  ki,  Yii  Isao  I,  ii).  Jade,  therefore, 
indicated  also  in  this  case  a s\Tnbol  of  plenty  and  luck. 

The  fact  that  the  emjieror’s  memorandum  was  really  made  of  jade 
is  expressly  stated  in  the  same  chapter  of  the  Li  ki  {Yii  tsao  II,  16). 

‘‘‘When  the  great  prefect  (tai-fu)  had  washed  his  head  and  bathed,  his  secretary 
brought  him  the  ivory  tablet  to  write  down  his  thoughts,  his  replies,  and  the  orders 
of  the  prince.”  Li  Ki,  Yii  tsao  I,  16. 

^Chavannes,  Ives  livres  chinois  avant  I’invention  du  papier  {Journal  asiatique, 
1905,  p.  26,  Note).  It  will  be  useful  to  add  here  jade  and  ivory  to  bamboo,  wood, 
and  silk  as  writing  materials. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


115 


“For  his  memorandum-tablet,  the  Son  of  Heaven  used  a jnece  of 
sonorous  jade;  '■  the  prince  of  a state,  a ihece  of  ivory;  a ^reat  officer, 
a piece  of  bamboo,  ornamented  with  fishbone;  - ordinary  officers  might 
use  bamboo,  adorned  with  ivory  at  the  bottom”  (Legge,  Li  Ki,  Vol.  II, 
p.  12).  The  great  importance  attached  to  these  tablets  appears  from 
the  following  paragraph:  “When  appearing  before  the  Son  of  Heaven, 
and  at  trials  of  archery,  there  was  no  such  thing  as  being  without  this 
tablet.  It  was  contrary  to  rule  to  enter  the  grand  ancestral  temple 
(/a  miao)  without  it.  During  the  five  months’  mourning,  it  was  not 
laid  aside.  When  the  prince,  bare-headed,  i^erformed  a funerary 
ceremony,®  he  laid  it  aside.  When  he  put  it  in  his  girdle  again,  he 
was  obliged  to  wash  his  hands;  but  afterwards,  though  he  might  have 
had  a function  to  fulfill  at  court,  it  was  not  necessary  to  wash  the 
hands.  Whoever  had  something  he  desired  to  call  to  the  attention  of 
the  ruler  or  to  illustrate  before  him,  used  the  tablet.  Whoever  went 
before  him  and  received  his  orders,  wrote  them  down  on  the  tablet. 
For  all  these  purposes  the  tablet  was  u.sed,  and  therefore  it  was  or- 
namented (with  reference  to  the  rank  of  the  bearer).  The  tablet  was 
two  feet  and  six  inches  (52  cm)  long;  its  width  at  the  middle  was  three 
inches  (6  cm),  and  it  tapered  at  the  ends  to  two  inches  and  a half 
(5  cm).”  These  tablets  had  the  .shape  of  a shuttle  and  apparently 
were  different  from  those  described  above. 

Also  in  K'ang-hi’s  Dictionary  we  find  that  the  dictionary  Kiiang 
yiin  (T'ang  j)criod)  defines  the  word  I'ing  as  “a  designation  for  a jade 
(vM  ming),"  the  dictionary  Po  ya  (or  Kuang  ya)  of  the  third  century  as 
a hu,  and  that  the  Commentary  to  the  Tso  chuan  gives  the  full  defini- 
tion of  “a  jade  writing-tablet”  {t'ing  yii  hii  ye).  Although  nowhere 
expressly  mentioned,  we  may  infer  that  the  writing  on  these  memoranda 
of  jade,  ivory,  and  bamboo  could  easily  be  erased  to  make  place  for 
other  notes,  and  that  this  constituted  their  principal  difference  from 
the  bamboo  or  wooden  documents  and  books  which  were  to  be  ])cr- 
manent.  From  other  facts  known  to  us,  we  are  justified  in  concluding 

‘K'lu  yii.  Legge’s  translation  is  based  on  the  explanation  of  the  Shuo  wen 
iyii  k'ing  ye)\  Couvreur’s  translation  "fine  jade”  is  justified  by  the  Kuang  yiin 
(mei  yii  ye).  This  means  that  it  is  not  known  what  v-ariety  of  jade  was  understood 
by  this  name. 

* Legge’s  rendering  is  correct,  and  there  is  no  reason,  in  the  light  of  archajological 
facts,  to  conjecture  with  K'ung  Ying-ta  (Couvreur,  Li  Ki,  Vol.  I,  p.  698,  Xote) 
that  it  was  an  ornament  made  from  the  barb  of  a crocodile  or  made  in  shape  of  a 
barb.  We  now  have  a number  of  pieces  of  ancient  pottery  unglazed  and  red-burnt 
called  by  the  Chinese  archaeologists  yii  ku  kuan,  i.  e.  “fishbone  jars”  in  which  small 
pieces  of  white  gypsum  are  inlaid  in  the  surface,  doubtless  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
it  a glittering  aspect,  and  perhaps  for  some  symbolical  reason  still  unknown  to  us. 
In  the  same  way  as  pottery,  I believe  that  also  the  bamboo  tablets  hu  were  inlaid 
with  gypsum. 

’ I here  deviate  from  Legge’s  translation  and  follow  Couvreur. 


ii6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


that  the  instrument  for  writing  was  a wooden  or  bamboo  stylus*  (of 
the  same  kind  as  still  used  in  Tibet)  placed  in  a tube  which  was  carried 

in  the  girdle  on  the  right  side,^  and  that 
the  ink  was  a kind  of  black  varnish. 

\Vu  Ta-ch'eng  has  illustrated  a speci- 
men of  jade  (here  reproduced  in  Fig.  40) 
which  he  thinks  he  is  justified  in  identify- 
ing with  the  imperial  jade  tablet  hu  for 
writing.  It  is  of  green  jade  with  a “black 
mist,”  and  in  its  outward  shape,  resembles 
the  other  imperial  tablets,  i.  e.  it  is  con- 
structed in  the  shape  of  an  implement, 
seemingly  a knife.  There  arc  three  per- 
forations arranged  in  a vertical  line  near 
one  of  the  lateral  edges,  and  a .smaller 
perforation  outside  of  this  row  near  the 
lower  end ; the  latter  served  for  the  passage  of  a cord 
or  band,  apparently  for  two  purposes,  — to  fasten 
the  instrument  to  the  girdle,  and  to  suspend  it  from 
a wall  if  writing  on  it  was  required.  In  the  same 
way  as  the  ancient  bamboo  slips,  these  were  also 
inscribed  with  just  one  vertical  line  of  characters. 
It  is  more  difficult  to  see  for  what  purpose  the  three 
other  perforations  were  made,  — possibly  a band 
was  passed  through  these  and  fastened  in  the  middle 
to  suspend  the  tablet  from  the  girdle,  so  that  it  was 
then  in  an  horizontal  position. 

Inscribed  jade  tablets  played  a prominent  r61e  in 
times  of  antiquity  for  the  sacrifices  feng  and  shan 
offered  to  Heaven  and  Earth  on  the  summit  of  the 
sacred  T’ai-shan.  The  main  object  of  these  cere- 
monies was  to  announce  to  these  two  powerful  deities 
the  accession  to  the  throne  and  the  prosperity  of  a 
new  d}masty:  the  emperor,  recalling  the  merits  of 
his  predecessors  and  ascribing  to  their  blessings  his 
own  virtues  and  success,  returned  his  thanks  to  the  two  deities  for 
the  support  which  they  had  rendered  to  him  and  his  line.  This 
announcement  was  made  by  means  of  a document  written  and  en- 
graved on  tablets  of  jade;  five  in  number,  one  foot  two  inches  in 
length,  five  inches  in  width  and  one  inch  in  thickness.  The  slabs  were 


Fig.  40. 

Imperial  Jade  Tablet 
hu  for  writing. 


'See  Cii  w ANNES,  /.  c.,  pp.  65  et  seq. 
‘‘Li  ki,  Nei  tse  I,  2. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


117 


piled  one  above  the  other  and  thus  reached  a total  thickness  of  five 
inches  equalling  their  width.  The  whole  package  was  protected  on 
the  upper  and  lower  face  by  a jade  slab  two  inches  thick  and  as  long 
and  wide  as  the  inscribed  tabletsi  A golden  cord  was  fastened  five 
times  around  and  held  by  a seal  placed  in  a notch.  Thus,  the  package 
was  laid  in  a box  of  jade  in  which  it  fitted  exactly,  and  the  box  was 
introduced  into  a stone  coffer.* 

Dr.  Bushell  informs  us  that  the  first  sovereign  of  the  Han  dynasty, 
the  Emperor  Kao-tsu  (b.  c.  206-195),  announced  his  acces.sion  to  the 
throne  by  sacrificing  to  Heaven  on  a jade  tablet  engraved  with  one 
hundred  and  seventy  characters.  The  jade  was  of  a bright  white  color 
spotted  and  u4th  moss-markings,  shining  in  colors  of  red,  blue,  vermilion, 
and  black.  The  writing  was  in  the  li  shu  of  the  Han,  and  the  style  was 
clear  and  strong. 

The  question  of  varicolored  jade  was  brought  on  the  tajfis  when  the 
Emperor  Kuang-wu  (25-57  d-)  made  his  preparations  for  the  sac- 

rifices on  the  T'ai-shan  and  gave  instructions  to  search  for  a blue  stone 
without  blemish,  but  it  should  not  be  neeessary  to  have  varicolored 
stones.^  At  this  time  when  the  seal-makers  were  not  capable  of  engrav- 
ing the  jade  tablets,  the  emperor  decided  to  avail  himself  of  red  varnish 
to  write  on  the  slabs;  but  this  plan  was  not  carried  out,  as  a man  was 
found,  able  to  do  the  work  of  engraving.  We  here  notice  an  important 
difference  between  the  ancient  writing-tablets  and  these  sacrificial 
tablets  of  jade;  the  fonner  were  memoranda  to  be  inscribed  only;  in 
the  latter,  the  writing  had  to  be  carved  as  a permanent  document. 
Probably  for  this  reason,  the  engraved  characters  under  the  T'ang 
dynasty  were  incrusted  with  gold.*  In  a decree  of  the  Emperor  T'ai- 
t.sung  (627-649  A.  D.)  the  reasons  for  the  employment  of  jade  tablets 
as  the  essential  feature  in  these  ceremonies  are  accounted  for  by  the 
firmness  and  solidity  of  the  material,  its  density  and  perfect  supernatural 
qualities  “which  are  transmitted  indefinitely,  for  ever  preserved  and 
unalterable.”  * 

These  tablets,  therefore,  do  not  pre.sent  a continuation  of  the 
writing-tablets  /tu,  but  are  developed,  as  observed  also  by  Chavanxes,* 
from  the  ancient  bamboo  slips  or  wooden  sjilints  which  served  as 
writing-material  before  the  invention  of  paper.  These  were  inscribed 
with  only  one  line  of  writing  by  means  of  a bamboo  stylus  dipped  into 
black  varnish,  and  fastened  together  with  a silk  cord  or  leather  strip 

'According  to  the  investigations  of  Chavannes,  Le  T’ai  Chan,  pp.  22  et  seq., 
where  also  three  Chinese  illustrations  and  a description  of  the  stone  coffer  will  be 
found. 

^Chavannes,  /.  c.,  pp.  162,  165.  ^Ibid.,  p.  226. 

p.  173.  ^L.  c.,  p.  174,  Note. 


ii8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

to  form  a coherent  book.  In  the  same  manner,  also  the  saerificial  jade 
slips  were  covered  with  only  one  vertical  line  of  characters  and  tied 
together  into  the  appearance  of  a book.  In  the  year  1747,  two  boxes 
of  jade  were  discovered  on  the  summit  of  the  T'ai-shan;  one  of  them 
was  opened  and  eontained  seventeen  jade  slabs  dating  from  the  year 
1008  when  the  Emperor  Chen-tsung  celebrated  the  sacrifice  feng, 
each  slab  having  but  one  line  of  writing  carved  in.  A similar  find  had 
been  made  at  an  earlier  date  in  1482  (/.  c.,  pp.  55,  56).  I do  not  know 
if  any  of  these  ancient  jade  slips  have  been  preserved  to  the  present 
day.  The  “jade  books”  in  vogue  among  the  emperors  of  the  Manchu 
dynasty  appear  as  their  natural  offshoot,  with  the  only  distinction  that 
more  than  one  line  is  engraved  on  one  tablet  in  which  the  page  of  a book 
printed  on  paper  is  imitated. 

Under  the  present  dynasty  it  was  still  customary  to  engrave  impor- 
tant state  documents  and  poetical  productions  of  the  emperors  on  jade 
slabs  of  book-size,  and  to  unite  these  into  a .so-called  jade  book  {yii  shu). 
The  Bishop  collection  contains  such  a book  consisting  of  four  oblong 
slabs  of  nephrite  framed  in  sandal-wood  in  which  a eulogy  on  the 
Seven  Buddhas  eomposed  by  the  Emperor  K'ien-lung  (1736-1795)  is 
inscribed  (Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  173,  not  illustrated).  F.  W.  K.  Muller 
(Zeilschrift  fiir  Ethnologic,  Vol.  XXXV,  1903,  p.  484)  mentions  a jade 
book  preserved  in  the  Museum  fiir  Vdlkerkunde,  Berlin,  coming  down 
also  from  the  time  of  K'ien-lung  in  which  the  emperor  himself  is  said 
to  have  carved  a few  lines  in  the  summer  residence  of  Jehol.  I am  in 
a position  to  illustrate  on  Plate  XIV  the  oldest  work  of  this  kind  from 
the  epoch  of  the  reigning  dynasty,  originating  in  the  year  1648,  four 
years  after  the  Manchu  had  taken  pos.session  of  China.  Being  written 
in  Manchu  and  Chinese,  this  document  presents  at  the  same  time  one 
of  the  earliest  specimens  of  the  Manchu  language  in  existence.  The 
first  literary  attempts  of  the  Manchu  arc  the  political  essays  of  Nurhaci 
of  the  year  1616;  their  earliest  epigraphical  record  is  an  inscription  of 
1639  erected  in  Sam-jon-do,  Corea,  in  commemoration  of  the  subjuga- 
tion of  this  country  in  1637;  their  earliest  j/rint  comes  down  from  the 
year  1646,  being  a translation  of  the  Sacred  Edicts  of  the  Emperor 
Hung-wu.  Then  follows  the  jade  book  in  question,  composed  of  ten 
nephrite  slabs  containing  an  imperial  document  of  1648,  in  which  the 
Emperor  Fu-lin  (Shun-chih)  confers  the  posthumous  honorary  name 
King  Tsu  Chih  Huang-ti  on  his  ancestor  in  the  sixth  generation,  Tu-tu- 
fu-man  by  name.  It  shows  in  which  form  the  emperors  used  to  bestow 
honorary  titles  on  their  ancestors.  For  the  sake  of  reproduction,  the 
ten  slabs  connected  in  one  row  had  to  be  divided,  so  that  the  Chinese 
text  arranged  on  four  slabs  on  the  right-hand  side  appears  above  and 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X.  PL.  XIV. 


Manchuand  Chinese  document  of  the  Emperor  Shun-chih,  Carved  in  Jade  Slabs  in  1648. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


119 


the  Manchu  text  which  is  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  book  appears 
below  on  our  plate.  On  each  of  the  two  extreme  slabs,  a pair  of  dragons 
is  engraved.  The  original,  apparently  taken  from  the  imperial  palace 
in  1900,  was  reported  to  me  in  1905  to  be  in  some  private  collection  in 
Japan;  I do  not  know  what  has  become  of  it  since. 

The  Manchu  text  of  this  unique  document  runs  romanized  as  follows; 
Ijishdn  Dasan-i  sunja-ci  aniya  suwayan  singgeri,  omion  biya-i  ice-de 
iahon  coko.  yiie,  jakon-de  suwayan  muduri  inenggi. 

soorin-be  siraha  hiyooiulara  omolo  Fu-lin,  niafa  fiilin  werihe  wang-de 
hengkileme  wesimbure,  gisiin.  abka-i  fejergi  ba  uhei  toktobufi,  amba 
doro-be  mutebuhengge,  mafai  holuri  werihe^  liirgun.  tondo  ofi,  doro 
kooli-be  alhddante,  hiyouhdara,  gonin-be  akombumc,  ts'a  boo-bai-be 
gingguleme,  jafafi  amcame  tukiyeme,  Yendebuhe  Mafa  Tondo  Ilowangdi 
Jungnefi  gung,  erdemu-be  tumen  jalan-de  tutabuha. 

Translation.  “In  the  fifth  year  of  the  period  Ijishon  Dasan  (Shun- 
chih,  1648),  a year  of  the  Yellow  Rat,  from  the  first  day  of  the  eleventh 
month,  a day  of  the  White  Rooster,  till  the  eighth  day,  a day  of  the 
Yellow  Dragon. 

“l,  Fulin  {Shtin-chih) , heir  to  the  throne,  thy  grandson  animated  by 
piety,  prostrating  myself  before  the  ancestor,  the  king  who  left  me  his 
blessing,  announce  as  follows:  The  reason  I brought  under  my  sway 
the  total  empire  and  accomplished  great  deeds  is  due  to  the  blessings 
bequeathed  to  me  by  the  ancestor.  Sincere,  in  accordance  with  law  and 
usage,  animated  by  piety,  with  all  my  heart,  I confer  upon  thee,  on 
this  precious  tablet,  the  posthumous  honorary  title  ‘the  Sublime 
Ancestor,  the  Just  Emperor’  {Yendebuhe  Mafa  Tondo  Ilowangdi,  in 
Chinese:  Iling  Tsu  Chih  Iluang-li),  whereby  thy  merits  and  virtues 
may  be  handed  down  to  the  ten  thousand  generations.” 

Also  the  autographs  of  famous  calligraphists  were  formerly  some- 
times reproduced  on  jade  slabs.  A specimen  of  the  writing  of  the  famous 
Wang  Hien-chih  or  Wang  Ta-ling  (344-388  a.  d.)  of  the  Tsin  peiiod 
was  thus  preserved.  The  jade  tablet  itself  is  lost,  but  a rubbing  from  it 
preserved  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Shen  in  Wu-kiang  (Su-chou  fu,  Kiang- 
su)  is  reproduced  in  the  Chinese  Journals  Shen  chou  kuo  kuang  1st, 
No.  2,  Plate  V,  and  Kuo  suei  hio  pao,  Yol.  4,  No.  i. 


'Written  in  the  text  erroneously  derihe. 


V.  JADE  IN  RELIGIOUS  WORSHIP— THE  JADE 
IMAGES  OF  THE  COSMIC  DEITIES 


In  Chapter  XVIII  of  the  Chou  li,  dealing  with  the  functions  of  the 
Master  of  Religious  Ceremonies  {Ta  tsung  po),  it  is  said:  “He  makes 
of  jade  the  six  objects  to  do  homage  to  Heaven,  to  Earth,  and  to  the 
Four  Points  of  the  Compass.  With  the  round  tablet  pi  of  bluish  (or 
greenish)  color,  he  does  homage  to  Heaven.  With  the  yellow  jade  tube 
ts'ung,  he  does  homage  to  Earth.  With  the  green  tablet  kuei,  he  renders 
homage  to  the  region  of  the  East.  With  the  red  tablet  chang,  he  renders 
homage  to  the  region  of  the  South.  With  the  white  tablet  in  the  shape 
of  a tiger  {hu),  he  renders  homage  to  the  region  of  the  West.  With  the 
black  jade  piece  of  semicircular  shape  (huang),  he  renders  homage  to 
the  region  of  the  North.  The  color  of  the  victims  and  of  the  pieces  of 
silk  for  these  various  spirits  corresponds  to  that  of  the  jade  tablet.” 
(Biot,  Vol.  1,  pp.  434-435.)^ 

The  Chou  li,  further,  gives  us  information  regarding  the  pieces  of 
jade  to  be  placed  in  the  coffin  of  a deceased  member  of  the  imperial 
house.  The  Steward  of  the  Treasury  {t'ien  fu)  was  in  charge  of  these 
treasures.  “He  fastens  silken  cords  through  the  apertures  with  which 
these  six  pieces  are  perforated.^  These  are  the  kuei,  the  ha\{-kuei 
or  chang,  the  circular  disk  pi,  the  jade  tube  ts'ung,  the  tablet  in  shape 
of  a tiger  hu,  and  the  tablet  in  shape  of  a half-circle  huang.  He  removes 
the  circular  disk  pi  from  the  tube  ts'ung.  These  objects  are  thus 
arranged  to  be  deposited  with  the  corpse  in  the  coffin.”  The  com- 
mentary adds  the  following  valuable  remark  to  this  passage:  “When 
the  body  is  placed  in  the  coffin,  the  kuei  is  to  the  left,  the  half-^Mrf  is 
at  the  head.  The  tablet  in  the  shape  of  a tiger  is  to  the  right.  The 
tablet  in  shape  of  a half-circle  is  at  the  feet.  The  circular  disk  is  under 
the  back.  The  jade  tube  ts'ung  is  on  the  abdomen.  In  this  way,  one 
figures  a representation  of  the  fang-tning  or  brilliant  cube  which  serves 
as  emblem  in  the  sacrifices.  The  circular  disk  pi  and  the  octagonal 

‘ I believe  that  this  passage  also  explains  the  term  Leu  tsung,  the  Six  Venerable 
ones  to  whom  Shun  sacrifices  in  the  Shu  king  (Ch.  Shun-tien,  6),  a term  which  has 
been  a great  puzzle  to  all  commentators  (see  their  different  opinions  in  Ch.wannes, 
Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  I,  p.  61).  Nobody,  however,  has. thought  of  this  series  of  Heaven, 
Earth,  and  the  four  Quarters,  which,  in  my  opinion,  would  be  an  explanation  to 
make  reasonable  sense. 

* The  commentary  is  quite  right  in  alluding  to  the  perforations  in  the  two  lower 
ends  of  these  pieces  which  in  fact,  as  we  shall  see,  occur  in  nearly  all  burial  jades. 


120 


12  I 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade. 

tablet  ts'ung  are,  by  their  separation,  s>Tnbolical  of  Heaven  and  Earth.” 
(Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  490.) 

It  will  be  recognized  that  there  is  a correlation  between  the  jade 
objects  used  in  nature  worship  and  those  buried  in  the  grave.  Heaven, 
Earth,  and  the  Four  Quarters  were  six  cosmic  powers  or  deities,  and 
the  jade  carvings  serving  their  worship  were  nothing  but  the  real  images 
of  these  deities  under  which  they  were  worshipped,  as  we  shall  see  in 
detail  when  discussing  the  jade  pieces  in  question.  The  idea  upheld 
hitherto  that  the  ancient  Chinese  possessed  no  religious  images  is 
erroneous:  they  had  an  image  of  the  Deity  Heaven,  of  the  Deity  Earth 
and  of  the  Four  Deities  representing  the  Four  Quarters  and  identified 
at  the  same  time  with  the  four  seasons.  We  must,  of  course,  not 
suppose  that  all  religious  images  must  be  anthropomorjihic  and  rej)- 
rcsent  the  figure  of  some  human  or  animal  being.  Anthropomorphic 
conceptions  arc  lacking  in  the  oldest  notions  of  Chinese  religion,  and 
therefore,  there  are  no  anthropomorphic  images.  The  ancient  Chinese 
had  an  abstract  metaphysical  mind  constantly  occupied  with  the 
phenomena  of  heaven  and  deeply  engaged  in  speculations  of  astronomy 
and  mathematics.  Their  religion  is  essentially  astronomical  and 
cosmological,  and  everything  is  reduced  by  them  to  measurable  quan- 
tities expressed  by  numbers  and  to  a fixed  numerical  system.  They 
did  not  conceive  of  their  cosmic  gods  as  human  beings,  but  as  forces  of 
nature  with  a well  defined  precinct  of  power,  and  they  constructed 
their  images  on  the  ground  of  geometric  qualities  supposed  to  be  im- 
manent to  the  great  natural  phenomena.  The  shapes  of  these  images 
were  found  by  way  of  geometric  construction,  a jade  disk  round  and 
perforated  representing  Heaven,  a hollow  tube  surrounded  by  a cube 
Earth,  a semicircular  disk  the  North,  etc.  The  West  fonns  the  only 
exception,  being  worshipped  under  the  image  of  a tiger,  the  first  and 
oldest  example  in  China  of  a personal  image  of  a deity.  The  geometric 
abstract  aspect  of  the  divine  images  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
whole  geometric  culture  of  the  Chou  jicriod  established  on  the  interre- 
lations of  celestial  and  terrestrial  phenomena  fonnulated  by  numerical 
categories  and  holding  sway  over  the  entire  life  and  thought  of  the 
nation  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  government,  administration,  relig- 
ion and  art.^  The  grave  means  only  a change  of  abode,  and  if  the 
corpse  is  surrounded  by  the  images  of  the  six  cosmical  gods,  this  signi- 

' I beg  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  epoch-making  researches  of  Leopold  de  Sacsscre 
which  have  appeared  in  various  instalments  in  the  T'oung  Pao  for  1909,  1910,  and 
1911  under  the  title,  Les  origines  de  I'astronomie  chinoise.  De  Saussure  has 
with  brilliant  acumen  proved  the  ancient  and  indigenous  origin  of  Chinese  astron- 
omy and  elucidated  the  fundamental  ideas  composing  the  culture  of  the  Chou  dy- 
nasty. He  deserves  congratulations  for  his  work  which  marks  a new  era  in  sin- 
ological research,  and  an  English  translation  of  this  should  be  given  to  the  world. 


122  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

fies  the  continuation  of  his  after-life  existence  in  partnership  with 
the  gods  of  his  former  life.  Man  himself  is  only  part  of  this  cosmos 
and  the  product  of  cosmical  effects;  so  he  remains  also  in  the  grave 
under  the  ruling  influence  of  these  cosmic  powers  as  on  earth. 

It  is  therefore  impossible  to  sejiarate,  in  a consideration  of  this 
subject,  the  jade  images  in  their  relation  to  the  cult  from  their  relation 
to  the  grave;  their  relations  to  life  and  death  are  mutually  connected 
and  must  be  examined  together.  We  shall  treat  first  of  the  images  of 
Earth  as  the  most  significant  of  all,  then  of  those  of  Heaven  and  the 
Cardinal  Points. 

I.  Jade  Images  and  Symbols  of  the  Deity  Earth 

The  three  specimens  illustrated  on  Plate  XV,  Figs.  1-3,  though 
differing  in  dimensions  and  proportions,  belong  to  the  same  type. 
They  are  based  on  the  same  geometrical  construction  and  may  be  defined 
as  tubes  or  cylinders  to  which  four  salient  triangular  jirisms  arc  attached 
in  such  a way  as  to  form  a rectangular  wall  around.  The  Chinese 
express  this  much  simpler  by  saying  that  they  are  square  or  angular 
outside  and  round  inside.  The  cylinder  overlaps  the  quadrangular 
part  on  both  ends  and  appears  there  as  a projecting  rim  or  lip.  The 
piece  in  Fig.  i consists  of  a much  decomposed  grayish-green  jade,  in 
color  much  resembling  a very  light  seladon  glaze.  The  entire  surface 
inside  and  outside  is  full  of  fissures  and  cracks  filled  with  hardened 
lime  and  loess,  and  corrosion  has  altered  the  stone  into  a very  soft 
material.  It  is  5. 8-5. 9 cm  high;  the  width  of  the  sides  varies  between 
7 and  7.3  cm;  the  circle  of  the  cylinder  is  imperfect,  the  diameter  vary- 
ing from  5.6  to  6 cm.  To  judge  from  its  appearance  and,  as  will  be  seen, 
also  on  the  ground  of  historical  exfidence,  this  and  the  next  specimen 
are  justly  ascribed  to  the  Chou  period  (b.  c.  i 122-255).  The  latter 
(Fig.  2,  Plate  XV)  is  very  much  veined  like  agate  or  marble,  white 
with  reddish-yellow  stripes  and  spots,*  but  has  the  smooth  polish  of 
ancient  jade.  It  is  only  4 cm  high,  6.7  cm  wide  with  a diameter  of 
5-5  cm- 

The  third  specimen  of  this  type  (Fig.  3,  Plate  XV)  is  much  .smaller 
than  the  two  others,  4.1  cm  high,  3.6  cm  wide,  and  2.8  cm  in  diameter 
at  the  opening;  the  projecting  lips  are  wider  here  than  in  the  two  others. 
Another  peculiar  feature  is  formed  by  two  crescent-shaped  incisions 
inside,  just  about  i cm  below  the  rim,  the  one  opposite  the  other,  in 
appearance  like  thumb-nail  impression.s',  the  one  cut  in,  the  other  cut 

‘ This  is  doubtless  the  same  color  as  described  by  the  Chinese  under  the  name 
“yellow”  in  connection  with  the  jade  objects  called  ts'ung,  as  will  be  seen  farther  on. 


Explanation  of  pl.  XV. 


Figs.  1-3.  Jade  Images  of  Earth. 

Figs.  4-5.  Marble  Symbols  serving  in  the  Sacrifices  to  Earth. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XV. 


I 3 2 

4 5 

JADE  Images  and  Symbols  of  the  deity  earth. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


rn- 


123 

out,  thus  appearing  as  j^ositive  and  negative,  or  in  Chinese  as  yang 
and  yin  (male  and  female).  The  jade  of  this  piece,  in'a  good  state  of 
preser\-ation,  shows  only  a few  small  sjjots  possibly  caused  by  chemical 
action  underground,  and  is  of  a uniform  light-green  leaf-color.  This  is 
a kind  of  jade  much  employed  in  the  Han  period,  and  I have  full  con- 
fidence in  the  report  given  me  that  this  piece  has  been  unearthed  from 
a grave  of  that  period.  It  is  a miniature  model  made  at  that  time  from 
the  larger  specimens  of 
the  Chou  period  as  rep- 
resented in  Figs.  I and 
2,  which  goes  to  show 
that  much  of  the  orig- 
inal symbolism  at- 
tached to  them  was 
then  lost.  In  Si-ngan 
fu  where  I obtained 
these  three  objects,  they 
are  called  kang  t'oii,  i.  e. 
wheel-naves  of  a char- 
iot, and  the  people  there 
are  unanimous  in  the 
opinion  that  they  have 
been  used  as  mortuar\' 
objects  in  connection 
with  the  dead,  having 
been  jjlaced  on  their 
breast.  We  shall  recog- 
nize from  a study  of  the 
ancient  texts  that  this 
information  is  correct ; whcei-Xave  (from  Ku  yu  m p'u). 

but  aside  from  this  purpose,  the.se  objects  served  also  a most  important 
religious  function  in  worship  and  s\Tnbolized  the  deity  of  Earth. 

A type  corresponding  to  our  specimen  on  Plate  XV,  Fig.  i,  is  in  the 
Bishop  collection  (Vol.  II,  p.  103)  and  has  been  defined  by  Dr.  Bushell 
as  “part  of  a chariot-wheel  nave,”  an  explanation  furnished  to  him  by 
the  Ku  yii  Vu  p'u,  which,  however,  as  will  be  seen,  is  erroneous.  Dr. 
Bushell  describes  the  object  as  being  of  nephrite,  brown  and  black 
mottled  with  russet  spots  and  patches,  the  seams  and  fractures  being 
of  a dark  dead-oak-leaf  color,  the  whole  covered  with  a russet  patina. 
He  continues  by  saying  that  it  is  a thick  massive  object  of  square 
section,  with  four  oblong  sides  externally,  but  with  the  corners  trun- 
cated and  reduced  so  as  to  leave  a thick  round  lip  projected  at  each 


124  Field  Museum  oe  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.\DE. 


125 


end;  the  interior  is  uniformly  hollowed  out  into  a cylindrical  cavity, 
into  which  the  end  of  the  axle  would  be  run. 

Let  us  first  examine  the  material  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  and  see  on 
what  ground  the  claims  of  this  book  are  based.  The  six  sj^ecimcns 
of  this  type  there  described  are  here  reproduced  in  Figs.  41-46.  They 
arc  all  headed  “Wheel-hubs  of  the  ancient  jade  chariot.”  The  latter 
{yii  lu)  was  one  of  the  five  imperial  carriages.  The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  has 
been  written  rather  carelessly,  and  faulty  characters  in  it  are  not  infre- 
quent. Thus,  the  character  kang  here  used  in  the  word  kang-t'ou 
“wheel-hub”  is  unauthorized  and  not  registered  in  K'.\ng-iii’s  Dic- 
tionary; it  ought  to  be  wang  (Giles,  finst  ed..  No.  12517)  or  kang 
(Giles,  second  ed..  No.  5892).  The  description  accompanying  the 
first  piece  (see  text  opposite)  reads  as  follows:  “The  wheel -hub  here 
figured  is  two  inches  long  and  1.3  inches  wide.  The  color  of  the  jade  is 
yellow  with  red  spots  evenly  distributed.  All  over  it  is  plain  ^ and  un- 
adorned. After  careful  investigation  I find  that  the  Book  on  Chariots 
{Ch'e  king)  says:  'Wheel-hubs  adorned  on  the  sides  with  jade^  pieces 
were  the  privilege  of  the  sovereign’s  and  the  princes’  carriages  which 
arc  identical  with  the  ancient  gilded  carriages.’  There  arc  styles  of 
square  ones,  round  ones,  hexagonal  and  octagonal  ones.  The  wheel- 
hubs  figured  below  arc  all  ornaments  of  the  nave  of  the  ancient  jade 
carriage.  Later  than  the  Han  and  Wei  periods  there  are  none  of  this 
kind  {i.e.  tley  are  all  prior  to  the  Han  dvTiasty).” 

That  this  argumentation  is  weak,  is  self-evident.  Nothing  seems 
to  be  knovm  about  the  Book  on  Chariots  here  quoted  which  is  not  an 
ancient  recognized  text,  but  probably  a jiroduction  of  the  Sung  period. 
In  the  Chou  li  and  Li  ki,  on  which  we  are  bound  to  rely  for  the  facts  of 
ancient  culture,  there  is  no  such  statement  to  be  found  (see  below). 
Then  while  in  that  quotation  the  jade  ornaments  arc  referred  to  the 
gilded  carriage  {kin  lu),  the  author  or  authors  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u 
ascribe  them,  nevertheless,  to  the  jade  carriage  {yU  lu)  \ these  carriages, 
however,  were  two  distinct  types,  and  the  jade  ornaments  could  have 
belonged  only  to  the  one  or  to  the  other,  as  ev'erything  of  this  sort  was 
conscientiously  and  minutely  regulated  and  nothing  left  to  arbitrary 
choice.  The  suspicion  arises  that  the  mere  designation  “jade  carriage” 
has  allured  the  author  to  run  after  this  will-o’-the-wisp. 

The  jade  in  Fig.  42  is  also  stated  to  be  yellow  with  red  spots,  and  the 
rectangular  sides  are  decorated  with  bands  consisting  of  hexagons  (in 
Chinese:  “six-comered  balls”),  a design  called  “refined  and  lovable,” 

‘The  character  p'o  (Giles  No.  9416)  stands  here  for  p'u  (No.  9509). 

^The  word  yii  “comer,  angle”  does  not  make  any  sense;  I presume  that  it  is 
mistaken  for  yii  “jade.”  The  whole  quotation  would  not  be  to  the  point,  if  no 
reference  to  the  jade  ornaments  of  the  carriages  were  made. 


126  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Voi..  X. 

this  object  being  attributed  to  the  Chou  period;  likewise  Fig.  43  which 
is  said  to  be  of  a pale-blue  jade  with  red  and  carnation  spots.  The 
jade  in  Fig.  44  is  lustrous  white  and  slightly  red;  the  piece  is  hexagonal 
in  shape  and  decorated  with  a pattern  called  the  iris  design  {yii  Ian  wen). 
Similar  designs  may  still  be  seen  in  the  ornamental  arrangement  of 

lattice-work  in  Chinese 
windows.  The  speci- 
men in  Fig.  45  is  de- 
scribed in  the  meagre 
text  joined  to  it  as 
hexagonal,  though  from 
the  drawing  it  rather 
gives  the  impression  of 
being  octagonal;  it  is 
undecorated  and  of 
lustrous-white  red- 
spotted  jade.  The 
object  in  Fig.  46,  appar- 
ently, does  not  belong 
at  all  to  this  class,  as 
it  is  rounded,  and  not 
square,  outside,  but  it 
is  here  listed  also  as  a 
wheel-nave  described 
as  of  green  red-spotted 
jade  with  an  upper  and 
lower  band  filled  with 
“the  pattern  of  sleep- 
ing silkworm  cocoons” 
{wo  Isan  chih  whi).^  So 
far  the  Ku  yii  I'u  p'li. 

The  Li  ki  ( c d . 
COUVREUR,  Vol.  II, 
p.  82)  says  of  the  big  carriage  {la  lu)  only  that  it  was  the  jircrogative  of 
the  Son  of  Heaven.  There  were  five  kinds  of  carriages  in  use  at  the 
imjicrial  court,  the  first  of  which  was  called  jade  carriage  {yii  lu)  from 
being  adorned  with  jade  (Couvreur,  Shu  king,  p.  353;  Biot,  Vol.  II, 
p.  482).  The  text  of  the  Chou  li  does  not  make  any  statement  in 
regard  to  the  character  of  these  jade  ornarnents,  and  the  opinion  of  the 
commentary  that  “ the  extreme  ends  of  the  jirincipal  parts  of  the  chariot 
were  provided  with  jade”  is  by  no  means  clear  (Biot,  Ibid.,  p.  122); 

'See  Chinese  Pottery  of  the  Han  Dynasty,  p.  5. 


Fig.  42. 

Alleged  Jade  Wheel-Nave  (from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XVI 


1 

2 

BRONZE  Fittings  of  Chariot  Wheel-Naves 


:.rv 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


127 


and  in  the  chapter  where  the  manufacture  of  chariots  and  of  the  wheel 
and  nave  in  particular  is  discussed  in  detail,  no  mention  is  made  of 
jade.  Aside  from  this, 
it  is  highly  improbable 
for  technical  reasons 
that  jade  should  have 
been  employed  in  form- 
ing the  wheel-nave  to 
allow  the  axis  to  pass 
through,  as  the  mate- 
rial is  too  hard  and  not 
flexible  enough.  Then, 
these  pieces  occur  in 
such  different  lengths 
and  shapes  that  also 
for  this  reason  this 
mode  of  emplo\Tnent 
must  be  doubted. 

Fortunately,  we 
possess  a number  of 
bronze  wheel-naves 
coming  down  from 
the  Chou  period, 
and,  if  the  jade 
pieces  in  question 
had  ever  served  this 
purpose,  we  should 
expect  to  find  some 
kind  of  agreement 
in  the  shape  of  these 
two  types  differing 
only  in  their  mate- 
rial. This,  however, 
is  not  the  case.  No- 
body will  fail  to 
recognize  in  the 
specimens  of  bronze 
(Plate  XVI)  a wheel- 
nave,  while  this  in- 
terpretation is  not 
plausible  for  the  objects  in  jade.  The  so-called  bronze  wheel-hub  will 
be  better  de.signated  as  forming  the  metal  mounting  of  the  wooden  hub. 


'.d'la’L 


-'.I  ^ ^1  ‘-J  *-L!  • ' ' ‘ V 

JQr-.  - '--  r- 

P -.  r 1. — I lr~.r~  ' I ^ 


Fig.  44. 

Alleged  Jade  Wheel-Naves  (from  Ku  yit  t'u  p'u). 


128  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

It  consists  of  three  parts,  a hollow  tube  open  at  one  end  and  closed  at 
the  other  to  admit  the  end  of  the  axle,  a perforated  piece  curved  like  a 
bow  or  saddle  and  a peg  surmounted  by  an  animal’s  (apparently  tiger  s) 


head  with  wing-shaped  ears,  which 
is  stuck  through  the  saddle  and  tube 
and  affords  a firm  hold  to  the  wooden 
part  inserted  into  it.  It  will  be  rec- 
ognized at  a glance  that  this  con- 
trivance may  serve  as  an  excellent 
protection  to  the  nave,  that  it  is 
efficient  and  decorative  at  the  same 
time.  The  saddle-like  piece  forms 
simultaneously  the  body  of  the  ani- 
mal, the  feet  of  which  are  conspicu- 
ously moulded  in  front  and  leave 
two  loop-holes  for  the  passage  of  a 
cord  or  strap  passing  through  an 


opening  in  the  animal’s  head.  The  tube  has  been  cast  in  two  halves, 
and  two  bands  of  scroll-work  are  laid  out  on  the  lower  side.  On  the 
disk  in  front  two  frogs  and  two  toads  are  brought  out  in  flat  relief;  the 
two  latte  r in  circular  shape  running  parallel  wnth  the  edge-line  of  the 
circle,  and  the  two  frogs  joining  their  heads  in  the  centre.  No  doubt, 


Feb.,  igi2. 


this  arrangement  was  intentional  and  suggestive  of  a turning  motion  of 
these  creatures  when  the  wheel  moved.  This  one  seems  to  be  an  excep- 
tionally good  specimen,  for  the  four  others  in  our  collection  arc  not  as 
elaborate  and  have  not  the  saddle.  Two  of  these  have  a plain  disk,  one 
has  it  chased  \^dth  scroll-work  which  is  brought  out  also  on  the  mantle 
of  the  cylinder.  In  length,  they  are  8,  8.5,  1 1.5  and  18  cm.  The  wings 
surmounting  the  tiger-head  are  presumably  connected  with  the  idea  of 
the  winged  wheel.  All  these  peculiar  features  show  that  there  is  no  con- 
nection between  this  type  and  those  pieces  of  jade  which  are  simply  so 
designated  from  a very  slight  outward  resemblance.  What  neither  the 
Ku  yu  t'u  p'u  nor  Dr.  Bushell  have  tried  to  explain,  is  just  this  very 
peculiar  form  of  these  jade  pieces  which  are  hollowed  out  into  a tube,  but 
quadrangular  outside;  the  bronze  wheel-nave  mountings  are  naturally 
round  or  cylindrical.  It  was  by  no  means  an  easy  task  to  carve  a piece 
of  jade  into  this  singular  shape  to  which  a jiarticular  significance  must 
have  been  due,  but  which  has  no  meaning  and  no  sense  in  the  purpose 
alleged.  The  Chinese,  surely,  would  not  have  wasted  so  much  labor 
without  aim  and  raison  d'etre. 

The  so-called  jade  chariot  was  reserved  for  the  emperor  and  used 
by  him  only  on  occasions  when  he  offered  a sacrifice.  Suppose  that  it 
was  the  wheel-naves  which  were  adorned  with  jade  (a  supposition  not 
warranted  by  any  ancient  text),  and  that  the  objects  figured  in  the 
Ku  yU  t'u  p'u  are  to  be  identified  wdth  them,  how  is  it  that  this  work 
can  figure  six  specimens  of  this  type,  that  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  can  even 
produce  thirty-six,  that  one  is  in  the  Bishop  collection,  and  three  in 
my  own,  making  a total  of  forty-six?  It  is  not  likely  that  such  a 
number  has  survived  from  the  time  of  the  Chou  when  this  object  must 
have  been  of  greatest  rarity  and  was  made  but  individually  for  a much 
restricted  imperial  use.  The  specimens  in  question  have  all  been  found 
in  graves,  but  certainly  not  in  imperial  graves.  How  should  it  have 
occurred  that  these  objects  of  an  alleged  imperial  prerogative  came  to 
be  dispersed  among  the  graves  of  the  people  who  could  not  have  been 
entitled  to  them?  And  what  was  their  meaning  and  purpose  in  the 
graves?  To  this  question,  the  speculative  theory  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u 
does  not  give  any  answer. 

This  whole  theory  is  absurd  and  simply  based  on  a misunderstand- 
ing which,  as  we  shall  see,  probably  goes  back  to  a definition  of  the 
dictionary  Shtw  wen  which  remarks  that  these  objects  resemble  wheel- 
naves  which  certainly  does  not  mean  that  they  are  such.  A friend  of 
mine  pursuing  ethnological  studies  in  Peking  once  showed  me  a knife 
which  he  had  just  picked  up  in  a hardware  store,  and  passed  it  as  the 
instrument  by  means  of  which  the  Chinese  cut  fish  into  pieces.  On 


130  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


inquiring  the  basis  of  this  information,  he  said  that  it  was  called  a fish- 
knife  {yti  tao),  and  I was  able  to  explain  to  him  that  it  derives  this  name 
merely  from  its  peculiar  form,  being  curved  like  a fish,  and  that,  for 
the  rest,  it  answers  all  purposes  of  a common  pocket-knife.  The 

authors  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u 
must  have  been  in  a similar 
position,  having  heard  these 
objects  popularly  called 
“wheel-naves  ” and  then  con- 
cluding from  this  name  that 
they  really  were. 

When  I ascertained  that 
this  identification  was  en- 
tirely unfounded,  I began, 
by  reading  the  Chou  li,  to 
arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
these  objects  must  be  re- 
garded as  the  ancient  insignia 
called  ts'ung  (Giles  No. 
12026),  and  then  discovered 
that  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  had 
reached  the  same  result. 
Therefore,  I now  give  the 
word  to  this  scholar  and  pass 
his  material  and  notes  in 
revdew. 

The  two  siiecimens  illustrated  in 
Figs.  47-48  are  derived  from  Wu  Ta- 
ch'eng’s  book  and  correctly  identified 
by  him  with  the  ta  ts'ung  (Giles  No. 
12026)  mentioned  in  the  Chou  li  (Biot, 
Vol.  II,  p.  527).  Both  are  hollow 
cylinders,  round  inside  and  square  in 
cut  outside,  with  two  short  projecting 
round  necks  at  both  ends;  the  former 
is  plain,  without  any  ornamentation, 
of  a dark -colored  or  dark-green  jade  with  black  veins  all  over,  and  as 
he  says,  saturated  with  mercury ; the  other  piece  of  a unifonnly  black 
jade  is  decorated  along  the  four  corners  with  nine  separate  rectangular 
fields  in  relief  carvings.  The  ornamentation  in  each  field  is  the  same; 
two  bands  consisting  of  five  lines  each,  two  knobs  below,  and  a smaller 
band  filled  with  spirals  and  groups  of  five  strokes  alternately  horizontal 


X 


Fig.  47. 

Green  Jade  Tube,  ta  ts'ung. 


Ficb.,  1912. 


Jadk. 


13 1 


C 




- X 

o 


1^ 


o 


o 


cr 


and  vertical.  These  prominent  corner  ornaments  are  called  with  a 
special  name  Isii}  The  protruding  ring-shaped  necks  receive  the  name 

she,^  a word  which  is  used  also  

in  the  jade  tablets  called  cliang 
to  denote  the  triangular  point  at 
their  upper  end.  WuTa-ch'eng 
recalls  the  fact  that  in  the  Chou 
li  twelve  inches  arc  ascribed  to 
the  la  ts'ung,  with  four  inches  in 
diameter  to  the  outer  rings  hav- 
ing a thickness  of  one  inch,  and 
that  it  is  the  emblem  of  the  em- 
press, under  the  name  net  chen 
Isung  “the  venerable  object  of 
the  power  of  the  inner  {i.  e. 
women’s)  apartments,”  corre- 
sponding to  the  chen  kuei  of  the 
emperor.  The  identification  of 
these  specimens  with  this  la 
Is'ung  is  based  on  the  finding 
that  their  measurements  agree 
with  the  data  of  the  Chou  li. 

Then  follow  eight  yellow 
Is'ung,  here  illustrated  in  Figs. 

49-56,  identical  with  those  stated 
in  the  Chou  li  as  having  been 
used  for  the  worship  of  Earth.® 

It  is  easy  to  understand  from 
these  specimens  what  the  com- 
mentaries mean  by  calling  them 
octagonal  or  rather  eight-cor- 
nered (pa  fang)  whereby  the 
earth  is  symbolized,  a notion 
which  has  given  rise  to  such  gro- 
tesque drawings  in  later  days.^ 

Of  importance  is  the  definition 


JO 


o 


c. 


c.. 


— ' -1 

J 0 

' — — ' 

Fig.  48. 

Black  Jade  Tube,  ia  Is'ung. 

• Giles  No.  i 1590  tsang,  in  this  case  to  be  read  tsu  (see  farther  below). 

^Giles  No.  9793:  translated  by  Biot  (Vol.  II,  p.  527)  arrow  or  projection. 

’Compare  Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  434  (i  huang  ts'ung  li  ti). 

■•Gingell  has  figured  one  of  these  on  p.  38  which  is  drawn  as  the  figure  of  an 
eight-pointed  star  (!).  The  translation  of  the  word  ts'ung  by  “octagonal  tablet,” 
as  was  the  fashion  up  to  now,  will,  of  course,  have  to  be  dropped;  it  is  neither  octago- 
nal nor  a tablet,  according  to  our  way  of  thinking  and  speaking.  But  then  there  are 
people  ready  to  say  that  the  Chinese  language  is  not  ambiguous.  It  is  rather 


132  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

given  in  the  Po  hu  t'ung,  the  work  of  Pan  Ku  who  died  in  92  a.  d.: 
“What  is  round  in  the  interior  and  piovided  with  teeth  outside, 


is  caUed  a ts'tingP  Now  the  six  raised  reetangles  which  appear 
in  the  upper  and  lower  part  at  each  corner  in  the  first  yellow  Is'ung 


amusing  to  observe  that  even  a scholar  of  the  mould  of  \\u  Ta-ch  J!? 

derstand  the  meaning  of  the  expression  pa  fang  eight  sid^  referring  the  really 
existing  eight  corners  or  eight  triangular  sides  around  the  openings  of  this  object 
which,  according  to  the  commentary  of  the  Chou  li,  symbolize  the  earth.  Alluding 
to  this  statement,  our  author  remarks  that  all  ts'ung  existing  at  present  have  on  y 
four  sides,  and  that  it  is  therefore  not  appropriate  to  speak  of  eight  sides,  and  m 
another  passage,  he  regrets  that  he  has  not  yet  seen  the  octagonal  ones. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


(Fig.  49)  and  the  six 
raised  rectangles  in  the 
corners  of  the  second 
Is'ung  (Fig.  50)  are  re- 
garded as  “teeth”  and 
compared  with  the 
teeth  of  a saw.  We  said 
before  that  they  are 
called  by  a special  des- 
ignation tsu,  a charac- 
ter composed  of  the 
radical  horse  and  a pho- 
netic complement  Isie; 
but  Cheng  K’ang- 
ch'eng  explains  that  it 
must  be  read  tsu  writ- 
ten with  radical  120  for 
silk  (Giles  No.  11828), 
and  this  word  tsu  de- 
notes a silk  band  or 
cord,  and  because  these  ob- 
jects were  wrapped  up  with 
bands,  that  name  was  ap- 
plied to  them.  Wu  Ta- 
cii'^:ng  says,  and  this  seems 
quite  plausible,  that  the 
bands  were  tied  around  the 
deep-lying  portions  between 
the  projecting  rectangles,  so 
that  it  would  follow  that  the 
word  tsu  refers  to  the  spaces 
between  these,  and  not  to 
the  rectangles  themselves. 
Judging  from  the  character 
of  these  specimens  and  the 
traditions  regarding  the  jade 
type  ts'ung,  there  is  no  doubt 
of  their  identification.  Wu 
Ta-ch'eng  furnishes  us  also 
a clue  as  to  their  name 
“chariot  wheel-nave,”  by 
making  the  following  intro- 


134  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


ductory  remark:  “The  large  ones  among  the  ancient  jades  going  under 
the  name  wheel-naves  {kang  t'ou,  Giles  No.  5892)  among  the  present 

generation  are  all  iden- 


tical with  the  ts'img. 
The  Shuo  wen  says: 
The  ts'iaig  is  an  auspi- 
cious jade,  eight  inches 
big,  resembling  a wheel- 
nave.”  The  case  is 
therefore  very  plain. 
The  object  is  likened 
to  another  similar  one; 
it  is  called  after  this 
simile  and  finally  taken 
for  the  real  thing  with 
which  it  is  only  com- 
pared . 

Six  further  speci- 
mens of  hiiang  Is'ung, 
varying  in  length,  all 
of  yellow  jade  with  red 
spots,  plainly  polished 
and  unomamented,  arc 
figured  by  Wu  Ta- 
ch'eng  and  here  reproduced 
in  Figs.  51-56.  These  were 
all  doubtless  connected  with 
the  worship  of  Earth.  The 
specimen  illustrated  in  F'ig. 
57  is  not  numbered  in  this 
series,  but  only  tentatively 
defined  as  a yellow  ts'ung, 
because  it  is  also  made  of 
yellow  jade  interspersed  with 
red  spots  on  all  sides;  but  it 
is,  as  our  author  himself 
remarks,  different  from  that 
type  in  that  it  shows  the 
shape  of  a ring  in  the  exte- 
rior as  well  as  in  the  interior, 


/TNw 

Fig.  Si- 

Yellow  Jade  Tubes,  huang  ts'ung. 


and  he  compares  it,  not  very  happily,  with  the  ojiening  of  the  bronze 
goblet  ku.  Then  follows  a group  of  twelve  ts'ung  (Figs.  58-69)  defined  as 
Isu  without  further  explanation. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


135 


Five  of  these  are  of  white,  four  of  dark-green,  and  only  three  of  vel- 
low  color.  Some  are  ornamented  with  “teeth ” as  the  emblems  lused  in 
the  worship  of  Earth,  others  bear  geometrical  band-ornaments  in  relief; 
others  again  are  ring-shaped  and  have  four  undercut  rectangles  in  the 


style  of  medallions  on  the  outward  side.  The  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  527,  528)  mentions  two  kinds  of  tsu  ts'ung,  one  five  inches  long  for 
the  empress,  and  another  seven  inches  long  for  the  emperor,  both  used 
as  weight-stones.  A silk  cord  was  drawn  through  the  perforation  and 
attached  to  the  scale-yard.  When,  e.g.,  silk  cocoons  were  offered  to  the 
empress,  she  availed  herself  of  this  object  in  weighing  the  silk.'  It  is 

* It  is  noteworthy  that  the  empress  weighs  silk  by  means  of  a weight-stone  rep- 
resenting the  image  of  Earth.  Silk  is  a gift  of  Earth,  and  the  rearing  of  silkworms 
and  spinning  of  silk  is  ascribed  by  tradition  to  a woman’s  initiative.  In  the  modern 
imperial  worship,  silk  is  offered  in  the  sacrifice  to  Earth  and  buried  in  the  ground, 
a usage  restricted  to  the  spirit  of  Earth  (Edkins,  Religion  in  China,  p.  31). 


136  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

possible  that  the  one  or  other  of  these  specimens  has  been  utilized  for 
such  a purpose. 

Another  scries  of  eight  objects,  called  only  Is'ung,  is  here  added, 
four  of  dark-green,  two  of  white,  and  two  of  green  and  white  jade. 
As  they  are  plain  and  do  not  exhibit  any  forms  differing  from  the 
previous  yellow  ts'ung,  they  are  not  reproduced  in  this  paper.  From 
their  colors  we  may  infer  that  they  have  not  been  employed  in  the 


Fig.  57- 

Yellow  Jade  Ring,  huang  Is'ung. 


worship  of  Earth,  but  must  have  serv’ed  another  end;  but  this  question 
is  not  discussed  by  our  author. 

In  the  C/iou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  528),  another  kind  of  ts'ung  is 
mentioned  under  the  name  “ festooned  ts'ung  {tuan  ts'ung),”  eight  inches 
long,  which  are  offered  by  the  feudal  princes  to  the  spouse  of  that 
prince  to  whom  they  pay  a visit.  These  apply  to  princes  of  the  first 
rank,  while  those  of  the  second  and  third  ranks  offer  pieces  six  inches, 
and  those  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  ranks  pieces  four  inches  in  length. 
It  is  very  possible  that  types  of  this  kind  occur  among  the  ts'ung  men- 
tioned, and  this  gradation  according  to  rank  finds  its  echo  in  the  vary- 
ing sizes  of  the  actual  specimens,  but  it  \yould  be  in  vain  to  attempt 
here  special  identifications,  as  all  detailed  descriptions  of  the  ancient 
pieces  are  lacking. 

We  have  so  far  recognized  various  uses  of  the  jade  object  called 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


137 


ts'iing.  Foremost,  it  is  the  symbol  of  Earth  as  a deity,  it  is  s3Tnbolic 
of  the  shape  of  the  earth  which  is  round  in  its  interior  and  square  on  the 
outside that  is,  in  other  words,  it  represents  the  real  image  of  the  deity 
Earth.  In  this  case,  the  jade  selected  was  always  of  a yellowish  tinge 


Fig.  59. 

Tubes,  tsu  Is'ung,  of  White  Jade  with  Black  Veins. 


or  at  least  striped  or  spotted  }'ellowish.  A jade  object  of  the  same 
type,  but  black  in  color  or  dark-green  with  black  veins,  tvas  the  sov- 
ereign emblem  of  the  empress;  a similar  type  was  used  b>’  her  as  a 

*Liu  Ngan,  who  died  in  b.  c.  122,  expressed  the  general  view  held  by  ancient 
philosophy  with  the  words:  “Heaven  is  round,  and  Earth  is  square;  the  principle 

of  Heaven  is  roundness,  and  that  of  Earth  squareness”  (De  Groot,  The  Religious 
System  of  China,  Vol.  VI,  p.  1264). 


138  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

scale-weight,  and  if  ever  employed  by  the  emperor,  it  seems  to  be  a 
secondary  development  by  transfer  from  the  female  sphere,  and  there 
is  no  instance  of  his  ever  having  made  actual  use  of  it  in  person.*  If 
offered  as  a token  of  respect  by  feudal  princes,  it  was  only  presented  by 

them  to  a princely  consort. 
B This  emblem,  therefore, 
has  always  referred  to 
female  power. 

But  its  use  is  not 
exhausted  therewith.  It 
also  entered  into  relations 
with  the  grave  and  the 
dead.  We  read  in  the 
C/iou  li  that  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  jade  tablets 
at  the  imjierial  court  was 
charged  with  six  objects 
of  jade  to  be  placed  on 
the  corpse  in  the  coffin 
(Biot,  Vol.  1,  p.  490). 
One  of  these  was  the  ob- 
ject ts'ung  which,  as  the 
commentary  explains,  was 
placed  on  the  abdomen  of 
the  corpse.  The  circular 
ring-shaped  piece  of  jade 
pi  was  placed  under  the 
back  and  was  to  s\Tnbolize 
Heaven,  while  the  jade 
ts'ung,  also  in  this  case, 
symbolized  Earth.  The  remaining  four  jade  pieces  were  emblematic 
of  the  Four  Quarters.  The  dead  person  was,  accordingly,  confided  to 
and  protected  by  the  great  powers  of  the  universe.  The  same  powers 
and  influences  which  had  controlled  all  his  thoughts  and  actions  during 
life-time,  to  which  he  looked  up  with  a feeling  of  awe  and  reverence, 
held  sway  over  him  also  in  the  grave.  It  must  be  emphasized  that  the 
images  of  Heaven  and  Earth  and  the  Four  Quarters,  if  arranged  in 
the  coffin,  were  not  intended  as  personal  amulets  to  protect  or  preserve 
the  body,  as  for  this  end  a good  numbeU  of  other  objects  were  avail- 
able, but  that  the  idea  was  implied  that  man  took  with  him  his  gods 
into  the  life  hereafter,  that  he  meant  to  live  the  other  life  in  the  same 

'But  also  the  emperor  partakes  of  the  nature  of  Earth  (see  below). 


Fig.  60. 

Tube.Isu  ts'uiig,o(  White  Jade  with  Manicol- 
ored  Spots. 


139 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade. 

manner  as  this  one,  surrounded  by  the  same  gods  and  worshipping 
them  as  before. 

This  fact  will  account  also  for  the  comparatively  large  number  of 
these  specimens  which  have  survived,  and  which  have  all  been  dug  up 
from  graves.  If  my  informants  at  Si-ngan  fu  asserted  that  they  have 
been  found  on  the  breast  of  the  corpse,  this  is  not  a fundamental  error 

3^ 


Fig.  61. 

Tube.  /SM  ts*uftg.  of  Yellow  Jade  with  White  Veins. 

as  the  decayed  condition  of  the  skeletons  and  disturbance  of  the  graves 
by  earth-slips  and  other  natural  causes  render  it  difficult  to  clearly 
recognize  the  original  position  of  the  objects. 

The  Chou  li  mentions  in  two  pas.sages  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  j).  487,  and 
Vol.  II,  p.  528)  another  object  of  jade  serving  in  the  sacrifices  offered 
to  Earth  and  for  the  joined  sacrifice  offered  to  the  Four  Venerable 
ones,  i.e.  the  spirits  of  the  Mountains  and  Rivers.  This  object  is  called 
lio7ig  kuei  yu  ti,  i.e.  two  jade  tablets  kuei  having  a central  foundation; 
the  latter  is  a perforated  disk  from  which  an  aj^pendage  resembling  in 
shape  the  tablet  kuei  emerges  at  the  upper  and  at  the  lower  end,  the 
whole  being  cut  out  of  one  piece  of  jade.  As  the  Chinese  illustrators 
have  preserved  a fairly  correct  drawing  of  this  plain  object,  I am  in 
a position  to  identify  with  it  two  specimens  in  our  collection  which  I 
was  fortunate  enough  to  acquire. 


140  Fikld  Museum  of  Natural  History  Anth.,  \ ol.  X. 

These  two  objects  are  illustrated  on  Plate  XV,  Figs.  4-5.  The 
material  of  both  is  called  jade  by  the  Chinese,  though,  judging  from 


Fig.  63. 

Tube.  1st!  Is'ung.  ol  Drab-Colored 
Jade  with  a Zone  of  Clayish 

Ixi 

‘This  is  also  the  judgment  of  Dr.  O. 
of  Geology,  Field  Museum. 


their  appearance,  it  rather  seems 
to  be  a species  of  marble.'  The 
one  (Fig.  4)  has  a lustrous  white 
color  and  is  smoothly  polished; 
it  is  full  of  earth  incrustations 
and  corrosions  which  have  par- 
tially altered  the  surface  into  a 
yellott'  broum.  From  the  point 
of  the  upper  kiiei  to  that  of  the 
lower  kuei  it  measures  19  cm  in 
length;  the  diameter  of  the  cir- 
cular portion  varies  from  10.5  to 
12  cm;  it  is  therefore  not  a per- 
fect circle,  being  larger  in  width 
than  in  length.  The  central  per- 
foration, howev’cr,  forms  a perfect 
circle  with  a diameter  of  2.5  cm, 
the  hole  having  been  drilled  from 
both  sides.  The  thickness  aver- 
ages 2 cm,  but  in  the  lower  kuei 

C.  Farrington,  Curator  of  the  Department 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


141 

it  only  reaches  1.7  cm.  The  long  sides  of  the  knei  are  2.5  cm  long, 
the  two  ridges  2.2  cm.  All  edges  of  the  circular  portion  as  well  as  of 
the  two  knei  have  been  chamfered,  except  the  ridge-poles  of  these 


Tube,  Isu  ts'ung.  Green  Jade  with  Russet  Spots  and  ' 'a  Zone  permeated  by  Mercury.” 

which  are  pointed.  Altogether,  this  piece  has  been  worked  with  great 
care,  and  the  dimensions  have  been  ascertained  and  regulated  from 
conscientious  mea.suring,  and  with  appliance  of  rule  and  compass;  a line 


Fig.  65. 

Tube,  tsu  Is^uttg,  of  Green  Jade  with  Zone  of  Clayish  Matter. 


connecting  the  two  points  of  the  kuei  will  pass  exactly  through  the 
centre  of  the  circular  perforation. 

The  .same  cannot  be  said  of  the  other  piece  (Fig.  5,  same  Plate) 
which  looks  somewhat  grotesque  in  its  clumsy  irregularity.  The 
connecting-line  of  the  points  of  the  kuei  passes  here  the  extreme  right 
portion  of  the  inner  circle,  leaving  there  a small  segment;  nor  do  the 


142  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


Fig.  66. 

Tube,  tsu  i5*ung,  of  Yellow  Jade.  ‘ ‘permeated  by  Mercury 


two  kuei  lie  in  one  vertical  zone.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  perforation 
(with  a diameter  of  5.5  cm)  is  not  in  the  centre  of  the  disk  with  a 
diameter  varying  between  13  and  13.5  cm  (i.  1-1.5  cm  thick).  The 

kuei  are  very  short  and  of 
irregular  shapes,  the  sides  not 
being  straight,  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding piece,  but  curv’ed.  The 
surface  is  much  decom. posed, 
owing  to  chemical  action  un- 
derground, and  has,  for  the 
greater  part,  been  changed 
into  a dark  yellow-brown, 
while  in  some  spots,  partic- 
ularly on  the  edge,  a light 
apple-green  of  the  original 
(?)  color  is  still  visible. 

These  two  objects  must 
be  distinguished  from  those 
Iireviously  described ; the  lat- 
ter are  real  images  of  Earth.  These,  however,  are  merely  sj-mbols 
accompanying  the  .sacrifice,  and  not  objects  of  worship.  Their  posi- 
tion in  the  cult  is  .similar  to  that  of  the  jade  tablets  which  were  sent 

along  with  any  official 
presents.  It  is  a sjTnbol 
of  rank,  the  degree  of 
rank  being  expressed  by 
the  two  attached  kuei. 
This  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  ordinary 
sacrifices  to  Heaven  and 
in  the  extraordinary 
sacrifices  oflfered  to  the 
Supreme  Ruler  Shang-ti  a 
similar  jade  disk  was  em- 
ployed, but  set  with  four 
kuei  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  486), 
arranged  crosswise.  A 
disk,  but  not  perforated,  with  but  one  kuei  at  the  ujiiier  end,  served 
in  the  sacrifices  to  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  thp  Planets  and  Constellations 
(Ibid.,  p.  488),  and  a ])crforated  disk  to  which  a chang,  i.  e.  half  of  a 
kuei,  was  attached,  served  for  the  sacrifices  offered  to  the  Mountains 
and  Rivers.  The  latter  could  be  u.scd  also  in  ceremonious  offering  of 


Fig.  67. 

Tube.  tsH  ts'ung.  of  Green  Jade  with  Black  Zone  interspersed 
with  White  Specks. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


143 


articles  of  food  to  strangers  who  had  come  on  a visit  Tt,-  • .v 
cent  proof  for  the  mere  repmsenta.ive  eharar  oVthese  “ 


Fig.  68. 

Tube.  of  Yellow  Jade  with  Russet  Spots. 


riG.  09. 

Tube,  tsu  ts'ung.  of  White  Jade  with  Russet  Spots. 


144  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

in  plaster  in  the  Field  Museum  and  are  here  reproduced  on  Plate 
XVIId 

The  deity  of  Earth  occupies  a prominent  place  in  the  religion  of  the 
ancient  Chinese  and  yields  in  importance  only  to  Shang-ti,  “the  Em- 
peror Above,”  the  ruler  of  Heaven.  It  is  simply  called  t'u  and  some- 
times ii  “Earth”  and  frequently  characterized  by  the  attribute  hou, 
meaning  a sovereign.  The  sex  is  not  expressed  by  this  word;  a sharp 
distinction  between  male  and  female  deities  does  not  occur  in  the 
oldest  religious  concept  of  China  where  anthropomorphic  notions  were 
but  weakly  developed.  Primarily,  Earth  was  neither  a distinctively 
female  nor  a distinctively  male  deity,  but  rather  sexless;  nevertheless, 
it  falls  under  the  category  of  yin,  the  negative,  dark,  female  principle, 
as  already  indicated  in  the  Book  of  Mutations  (Vi  king)  where  the 
notion  of  yin  is  defined  as  the  action  of  Earth  {yin  ti  tao).  It  is  cer- 
tainly doubtful  whether  the  word  yin  conveyed  in  the  beginning  a 
clear  sex-notion  which  may  be  regarded  as  a philosophical  abstraction 
of  later  times;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  eombination  yin  yang 
signified  the  combined  action  of  Heaven  and  Earth  in  the  production 
and  transformation  of  beings,  or  the  creative  power  of  these  two  great 
forces.  In  the  sacrifices  to  the  deity  Earth,  all  paraphernalia  are  derived 
from  the  sphere  of  yin,  and  the  jade  image  of  the  deity  s\Tnbolizing  its 
shape  doubtless  partakes  also  of  the  character  of  the  female  element. 

It  has  been  emphasized  that  only  under  the  Han  dynasty  (b.  c. 
206-221  A.  D.)  the  word  hoii  adopted  the  meaning  of  “princess,  em- 
press,” and  that  first  in  a h\*mn  of  that  period  the  deity  Earth  is  con- 
ceived of  as  female  and  is  designated  definitely  as  “the  fertile  mother.’’* 
Only  as  late  as  under  the  Emperor  Wu  (b.  c.  140-87),  the  cult  of  the 
Empress  Earth  is  instituted  at  Fen-yin  where  she  was  adored  under  the 
statue  of  a woman.*  But  this  action  does  not  prove  that  the  deity  has 
been  considered  a male  previously;  it  only  means  the  termination  of  a 
long-continued  development,  the  final  official  sanction  manifestly 
expressed  by  this  imperial  approval  of  a general  popular  feeling  pre- 
sumably cherished  for  centuries.  An  important  deity  occupN’ing  to 
a large  extent  the  minds  of  the  people  does  not  change  in^  day  from  a 

‘The  Ku  yti  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  8-io)  gives  a wonderfully  rich  selection  of  these  four 
symbols  in  all  varieties  decorated  with  all  sorts  of  impossible  ornaments.  It  would 
be  a waste  of  time  to  discuss  these  bold  forgeries  of  the  Sung  period.  No  ancient 
text  nor  any  of  the  older  commentaries  contain  a word  about  these  pieces  having 
ever  been  decorated.  In  the  symbols  of  Earth,  the  faux  pas  has  been  committed 
of  drawing  instead  of  the  circular  perforated  disk  a solid  quadrangle ; of  course,  also 
the  Sung  artists  knew  that  fhe  earth  was  square,  — mais  du  sublime  au  ridicule  il 
n'y  a pas  tin  pas. 

* W.  Grube,  Religion  und  Kultus  der  Chinesen,  p.  35. 

’Chavannes,  Le  T'ai  Chan,  p.  524. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XVII. 

Fig.  I.  Emblem  serving  in  Sacrifices  to  Heaven. 

Fig-  2.  Emblem  in  Sacrifices  to  Sun,  Moon,  Planets  and  Constellations. 
Fig.  3.  Emblem  in  Sacrifices  to  the  Mountains  and  Rivers. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X.  PL.  XVII. 


2 I 3 

Reconstructions  in  plaster  of  Sacrificial  Emblems. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


145 


male  into  a female,  nor  can  it  be  all  of  a sudden  proclaimed  as  a female, 
unless  it  was  imbued  with  such  latent  qualities  in  popular  imagination 
which  gradually  led  to  this  end  with  forcible  logic.  We  are  therefore 
bound  to  assume  that  female  elements  and  characteristics  must  have 
been  slumbering  in  the  conception  of  this  deity  ages  before  the  time  of 
the  Han. 

A sharp  distinction  must  be  made,  at  the  outset,  between  the  deity 
of  Earth  (ru)  and  the  Sjhrit  of  the  Soil  (she).  The  latter  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  a very  remarkable  and  fruitful  study  by  Prof. 
Cii.-WANNES.i  The  Spirit  of  the  Soil  is  a decidedly  male  god  of  partially 
anthropomorphic  concept ; but  it  is  a god  restricted  in  power  as  to  space 
and  to  time,  it  is  a god  of  territorial  groups,  of  social  communities 
occupying  a more  or  less  limited  area  of  the  soil.  There  is  a complex 
system  of  an  official  hierarchy  of  a plurality  of  gods  of  the  soil  graduated 
according  to  rank  and  jjower.  The  individual  families  harbor  their 
god  of  the  soil,  the  territorial  communities  have  their  own,  the  terri- 
torial officials  have  their  own,  and  the  feudal  lords  and  the  emperor 
have  their  own.  1 he  imperial  god  of  the  soil  is,  so  to  speak,  the  partic- 
ular property  of  the  dynasty,  and  his  power  \-anishes  with  the  extinction 
of  the  latter.  The  new  rising  dynasty  chooses  a new  god  of  the  soil 
of  its  own  by  erecting  to  him  a new  altar,  and  neutralizes  the  action  of 
his  predecessor  by  building  an  enclosure  around  his  altar.  The  gods 
of  the  soil,  accordingly,  are  individual  gods  of  a local  and  temporary 
e.xistence  connected  with  the  coeval  living  owners  of  the  soil,  living 
and  dying  with  them. 

The  deity  of  Earth,  however,  is  infinite  in  space  and  time.  It 
comprises  the  totality  of  the  entire  known  earth,  the  limits  of  which 
were  unknown;  it  is  permanent  and  eternal  like  Heaven,  and  the 
second  great  cosmic  power  of  nature  acting  in  harmony  with  Heaven 
towards  the  welfare  of  the  whole  creation.  It  is  an  almighty  great 
abstract  deity  like  Heaven  and  the  object  of  veneration  and  worship 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  in  particular  of  the  emperor,  through 
all  generations.  It  is  the  telluric  deity,  whereas  the  Spirit  of  the  Soil 
merely  shares  the  function  of  a terrestrial  tutelary  genius. 

Ch.av.'VXNes  (/.  c.,  p.  524)  has  adopted  the  point  of  view  that  the 
sacrifice  to  Earth  does  not  go  back  to  times  of  a great  antiquity,  and 
that  only  since  the  time  of  the  Han  Emperor  Wii  the  dualistic  cult 
of  Heaven  and  Earth  has  assumed  a prodigious  importance.  I am 
inclined  to  think  that  such  a view  cannot  be  upheld. 

The  dual  concept  of  Heaven  and  Earth  as  the  deified  omnipotent 
powers  of  nature  seems  to  me  to  have  formed  an  essential  constituent 


*Le  Dieu  du  Sol  dans  la  Chine  antique,  in  his  book  Le  T'ai  Chan,  pp.  437  et  seq. 


146  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

of  the  most  ancient  religious  notions  of  the  Chinese.  As  early  as  in 
the  Shu  king  {Chou  shu,  T'ai  shift  shang,  I,  3;  ed.  Couvreur,  p.  172) 
we  read  in  the  beautiful  speech  of  U'zi  Wang:  “Heaven  and  Earth  are 
like  father  and  mother  of  all  beings,  and  of  all  beings,  it  is  man  alone  who 
is  endowed  with  reason.  Who  excels  in  intelligence  and  sagacity,  is 
made  the  supreme  sovereign;  the  supreme  sovereign  is  the  father  and 
the  mother  of  the  nation.”^  In  this  text,  Heaven  and  Earth  are  char- 
acterized as  living  creative  forces  comparable  to  the  propagating 
faculty  of  a father  and  mother.  The  Chinese  have  certainly  not 
yet  spoken  directly  of  the  “Mother  Earth”  in  those  early  days,  but 
what  is  apparent  is  the  fact  that  the  idea  of  Earth  being  or  acting  like 
a mother  was  .subconsciously  latent  in  their  minds,  and  that  the  em- 
peror partakes  not  only  of  the  nature  of  Heaven  but  also  of  Earth.^ 

And  then  the  passage  in  the  Li  ki  (IX,  I,  21;  ed.  Couvreur,  Vol. 
I,  p.  587;  Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  425);  “The  sacrifices  to  Earth  were  made 
to  honor  the  beneficent  actions  of  Earth  (/f);  for  Earth  (ti)  carries  all 
beings,  while  Heaven  holds  the  constellations  suspended.  We  derive 
wealth  from  Earth,^  we  derive  the  regulation  of  our  labors  from  Heaven. 
For  this  reason,  we  honor  Heaven  and  love  Earth,  and  we  therefore 
teach  the  people  to  return  them  thanks.”  The  relations  of  the  people, 
i.  e.  the  farmers,  to  these  two  factors  upon  which  they  depended  for 
their  existence  could  not  have  been  better  expressed;  they  honored 
Heaven  and  loved  Earth,  as  they  honored  their  father  and  loved  their 
mother,  and  therewith  the  farmer’s  emotional  religion  was  bound  up. 
It  was  a wide-spread  deep-rooted  national  sentiment,  it  was  a subject 
of  instruction,  the  key-note  of  the  lessons  given  to  the  people. 

In  “the  Doctrine  of  the  Mean”  {Chung  yung),  the  word  ti  occurs 
constantly  as  the  correlative  of  t'ien,  the  phrase  T'ien  Ti  “Heaven  and 
Earth”  being  now  the  component  parts,  and  now  the  great  powers, 
of  the  universe,  as  a dualization  of  nature,  producing,  transforming, 
completing.'*  It  has  been  said  that  Chinese  religion  does  not  know  of 

'Compare  Yi  king  {Shuo  kua  chuan,  10):  “ Kien  is  Heaven  and  is  therefore 

called  the  father;  kun  is  Earth  and  is  therefore  called  the  mother.” 

^ The  philosopher  Wang  Ch'ung  (first  century  a.  u.)  says  likewise:  “The  emperor 
treats  Heaven  like  his  father  and  Earth  like  his  mother.  In  accordance  with  human 
customs,  he  practises  filial  piety,  which  accounts  for  the  sacrifices  to  Heaven  and 
Earth.”  (Fokke,  Lun  HSng,  Part  I,  p.  517.)  This  symbolism  penetrated  the  whole 
life  of  the  sovereign.  The  rectangular  wooden  body  on  which  his  chariot  rested 
represented  the  Earth,  and  the  circular  shape  of  the  umbrella  planted  on  the  chariot 
represented  Heaven;  the  wheels  with  their  thirty  spokes  symbolized  sun  and  moon, 
and  the  twenty-eight  partitions  of  the  umbrella  the  stars  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  488). 

® I.  e.  it  is  the  giver  of  all  earthly  goods  produced  by  the  soil.  Hence,  in  a passage 
of  the  Lun  yii  (Legge,  The  Chinese  Classics,  Vol.  I,  p.  168),  the  word  t'u  "earth” 
assumes  the  meaning  of  comfort,  worldliness,  of  which  only  the  average  small- 
minded  man  thinks,  whereas  the  superior  man  aspires  for  good  qualities. 

‘Legge,  The  Chinese  Classics,  Vol.  I,  pp.  460,  461. 


I 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


147 


a creation  or  creator;  this  saying  should  be  thus  formulated,  that  there 
is  no  creation  myth  preserved  to  us  in  the  Chinese  traditions.  These 
have  been  handed  down  by  practical  philosophers  or  scholars  who 
hardly  took  an  interest  in  the  religious  notions  and  legends  of  the 
masses.  We  therefore  have  merely  a one-sided  and  biased  version 
of  their  religion  abridged  and  curtailed  after  an  eclectic  method  stamp- 
ing out  everything  that  did  not  fit  the  Confucian  system.  A number 
of  passages  in  the  Yi  king  will  allow  the  inference  that  there  has  been 
an  ancient  idea  of  Heaven  and  Earth  having  ereated  the  universe  by 
their  combined  action.  Even  the  most  ancient  texts  express  them- 
selves in  an  abstract  style  of  dignified  philosophie  speech  which  does 
not  reflect  the  people’s  language.  It  will  not  be  a heresy  to  imagine 
that  in  popular  thought  this  process  was  simply  conceived  of  as  a 
parallel  to  the  human  act  of  generation,  as  so  universally  found 
among  many  primitive  peoples,  and  this  presumption  will  adequately 
account  for  the  dropping  into  high  literature  of  sueh  comparisons  of 
Heaven  and  Earth  with  father  and  mother.^ 

It  is  difficult  to  see  why  Chavannes  denies  that  a regular  cult  was 
devoted  to  Earth  in  the  same  way  as  to  Heaven.  King  Siian  in  the 
Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  II,  p.  529)  presents  his  offerings  to  the  Powers 
above  and  below,  and  then  buries  them.  The  Li  ki  {Wang  chih  III, 
6;  ed.  Couvreur,  Vol.  I,  p.  289)  says  expressly  that  the  Son  of  Heaven 
sacrifices  to  Heaven  and  Earth  (t'ien  ti).  The  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  I, 
p.  487  and  Vol.  II,  p.  528)  mentions  the  perforated  circular  jade  piece 
with  a kuei  attached  at  the  upper  and  lower  ends,  deseribed  above, 
which  serves  in  the  sacrifiees  to  Earth.  The  archaeological  finds 
exhibiting  a jade  image  of  Earth  and  a jade  s\Tnbol  used  in  the  sacrifices 
in  its  honor  point  in  the  same  direction  and  afford  a still  weightier 
evidence.  One  of  the  crimes  of  the  last  tyrant  of  the  Shang  dynasty 
was  that  he  sacrificed  neither  to  Heaven  nor  to  Earth,  nor  to  the 
souls  of  his  ancestors  {Shu  king,  ed.  Couvreur,  p.  181).  It  was  and 
is  only  the  emperor  who  possessed  the  privilege  of  sacrificing  to  Heaven 
and  Earth,  and  hence  it  is  clear  that  Earth  ranked  with  Heaven  on  the 
same  level,  that  they  were  correlate  to  each  other,  and  that  the  cult 
and  the  sacrifice  devoted  to  the  deity  of  Earth  was  of  just  as  great 
importance  as  that  to  Heaven. 

Also  at  the  present  time,  the  emperor  stands  in  the  same  relation 
to  Earth  as  to  Heaven.  In  prayer  to  both,  he  styles  himself  a “ subject,” 

'This  point  of  view  has  been  rejected  by  Plath  (Die  Religion  und  der  Cultus  der 
alten  Chinesen,  Part  I,  p.  37)  on  the  ground  of  objections  the  validity  of  which  I 
fail  to  sec.  His  interpretation  that  the  term  “father  and  mother”  merely  refers  to 
parental  care,  and  that  therefore  the  sovereign  is  called  father  and  mother  of  the 
people,  is  the  mere  outcome  of  a rational  subjectivism  which  is  not  borne  out  by  the 
wording  and  thoughts  of  the  Chinese  texts. 


148  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

but  only  to  these,  and  not  to  any  other  spirit.'  The  spirits  of  the 
great  mountains  and  rivers  are  treated  in  the  ritual  by  the  emperor  as 
ministers  subject  to  him. 

In  the  Chung  yung  (Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  Vol.  I,  p.  404)  Con- 
fucius says:  “By  the  ceremonies  of  the  sacrifices  to  Heaven  and  Earth 
{kiao  she)  they  served  God  (Shang-ti),  and  by  the  ceremonies  of  the 
ancestral  temple  they  sacrificed  to  their  ancestors.  He  who  under- 
stands the  ceremonies  of  the  sacrifices  to  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  the 
meaning  of  the  several  sacrifices  to  ancestors,  would  find  the  govern- 
ment of  a kingdom  as  easy  as  to  look  into  his  palm!”  As  Legge  under- 
stands, the  service  of  one  being,  God,  was  the  object  of  both  these 
ceremonies.  Would  it  mean  that  in  the  view  of  Confucius  at  least. 
Earth  was  also  subject  to  the  Supreme  Ruler?^  The  difficulty  arising 
from  the  Chinese  texts  is  to  decide  whether  such  notions  spring  up 
from  popular  religion  or  are  the  outcome  of  individual  jihilosophical 
speculation. 

Though  the  god  or  gods  of  the  Soil  and  the  deity  of  Earth  are  two 
distinct  types  moving  on  opposite  lines  of  thought,  there  are  neverthe- 
less mutual  points  of  contact  in  the  cult  rendered  to  them  and  ideas 
fu-sing  from  the  one  into  the  other,  for,  after  all,  the  god  of  the  soil 
invariably  roots  in  the  ground  which  is  part  of  the  earth.  Of  chief 
interest  to  us  with  reference  to  the  present  subject  is  the  image  under 
which  the  god  of  the  Soil  was  revered.  The  material  of  which  it  was 
made  was  common  stone  in  distinction  from  the  nobler  substance 
of  jade  reserved  for  Earth.  This  shows  the  wide  gulf  separating  the 
two  in  general  estimation.  Jade  is  the  product  of  earth,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  essence  of  Heaven  perfected  under  supernatural  influ- 
ences. Stone  is  simply  a species  of  earth  and  the  most  solid  object 
found  within  the  domain  of  things  created  by  the  soil;  it  was  therefore 
selected  as  the  material  to  figure  the, spirit  of  the  Soil.®  Though  there 
is  no  doubt  that  these  images  go  back  to  a great  antiquity,  there  is 
no  description  given  of  them  earlier  than  in  705  a.  d.  It  was  then 
proposed  to  make  them  five  feet  long  (which  is  the  number  corresponding 
to  Earth)  and  two  feet  wide  (two  corresponding  to  the  female  principle 

‘J.  Edki.ns,  Religion  in  China,  p.  31. 

“The  passage  has  been  one  of  great  controversy  among  the  Chinese  commentators. 
To  overcome  the  difficulty,  it  has  been  proposed  by  some  that  the  word  Hou-l'u  "the 
sovereign  Earth”  has  been  suppressed  for  the  sake  of  brevity  after  Shang-li,  and 
they  accordingly  translate,  “By  the  sacrifices  kiao,  they  did  homage  to  the  Ruler 
Above,  by  the  sacrifices  she,  to  Earth,”  a view  adopted  by  Couvreur  (Les  quatre 
livres,  p.  44). — If  J.  Ross  (The  Original  Religion  of  China,  p.  65)  infers  from  this 
sentence  that  God  is  thus  removed  to  a greater  distance  from  man,  and  approached 
through  the  visible  media  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  this  is  too  rational  an  explanation 
and  no  longer  in  agreement  with  Chinese  thought. 

’Chavan'nes,  Lc  T'ai  Chan,  p.  477. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


J.ADE. 


149 


yin)\  the  upper  part  should  be  rounded  off  to  svTnbolize  the  birth  of 
the  beings;  the  basis  was  to  be  made  square  to  symbolize  Earth;  half 
of  its  body  should  be  sunk  into  the  ground  that  it  may  root  in  the 
earth,  in  such  a way  that  the  parts  underground  and  above  are  of 
equal  size.  Under  the  Sung  (960-1279  a.  d.)  this  regulation  was  still 
in  force,  and  we  hear  that  the  stone  was  shaped  like  a bell.*  The 
image  of  the  god  of  the  Soil  was  accordingly  based  on  a geometrical 
construction  like  that  of  the  deity  of  Earth;  in  a twofold  manner,  it 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  Earth,  in  the  s\Tnbolism  of  the  figures  five 
and  two,  and  in  the  square  form  of  the  basis  derived  from  the  idea 
of  the  square  shape  of  the  earth.  It  deviates  from  the  image  of  Earth 
in  the  crude  material  chosen,  in  its  much  larger  size,  in  being  solid 
(not  hollowed  out),  and  in  its  stationary  character  by  which  it  is  fixed 
in  a definite  place,  half  under  the  .soil  and  half  above  it,  to  indicate  its 
relations  to  the  land  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  it. 

In  the  ceremonies  called  feng  and  shan  performed  on  the  summit 
and  at  the  foot  of  the  T'ai-shan,  the  sacrifice  Jhtg  was  addressed  to 
Heaven,  and  the  sacrifice  shan  to  Earth.  These  sacrifices  were  per- 
formed for  the  first  time  in  B.  c.  1 10.  The  altar  on  which  the  sacrifice 
to  Heaven  was  perfonned  consisted  of  a circular  terrace  fifty  feet  in 
diameter  and  nine  feet  in  height.  The  ceremony  shan  in  honor  of 
Earth  took  place  on  an  “octagonal”  altar,  a phenomenon  analogous 
to  the  “octagonal”  image  of  Earth.  The  offerings  were  buried  in 
the  soil  in  a pit  dug  for  this  purpose  to  reach  the  .subterranean  deity, 
while  those  for  Heaven  were  burned  on  a scaffold  to  be  carried  above 
by  the  smoke. ^ 

The  word  “octagonal”  must  not  be  understood  in  the  sense  that  a 
horizontal  cut  made  through  the  altar  was  a figure  with  eight  sides; 
it  was  a rectangular  block  of  earth,  a solid  with  two  square  and  four 
rectangular  faces;  the  Chinese  expression  merely  arises  from  the  eight 
corners  or  angles.  This  condition  of  affairs  we  may  infer  from  the 
description  of  this  altar  which  was  gilded  on  the  upper  face  and  painted 
on  each  of  its  four  sides  with  the  color  appropriate  to  that  particular 
direction,  i.  e.  green  for  the  cast,  red  for  the  south,  white  for  the  west, 
and  black  for  the  north.®  And  an  altar  of  the  same  construction  was 
dedicated,  at  the  epoch  of  the  Han,  to  the  great  god  of  the  Soil  who  had 
his  quarters  in  the  imperial  palace;  with  the  only  difference  that  the 
earth  on  the  tojj  of  the  altar  was  yellow.^  In  all  these  cases,  the  altar 
derives  its  shape  from  the  object  of  worship  and  indeed  coincides  in 
appearance  with  the  image  of  the  deity  itself. 

‘Compare  Chavanxes,  Le  T'ai  Chan,  p.  478.  'Chavaxnes,  /.  c.,  p.  21. 

’Ch.waxnes,  /.  c.,  p.  195.  *Ihid.,  p.  451. 


150  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

The  same  ideas  still  pervade  modern  China.  In  the  temple  of 
Agriculture  {Sien  Xung  t'an)  in  Peking,  north  of  the  ground  where  the 
emperor  ploughs  in  the  spring,  there  is  a square  terrace,  five  feet  high, 
and  fifty  feet  on  each  side,  from  which  the  ceremonies  of  ploughing  are 
watched;  there  are  further  two  rectangular  altars  there  devoted  to  the 
spirits  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  respectively.  In  the  Tai  Miao,  the 
ancestral  temple  of  the  imperial  family,  there  is  still  the  altar  to  the 
spirits  of  land  and  grain,  fifty-two  feet  square  and  four  feet  high,  built 
of  white  marble;  the  terrace  is  laid  \Vith  earth  of  five  colors,  distributed 
in  the  above  mentioned  way  among  the  cardinal  points,  yellow  being 
in  the  centre.  The  inner  wall  is  764  feet  long,  and  is  built  wdth  bricks 
glazed  in  different  colors  on  each  of  its  four  sides,  according  to  position. 

It  is  of  great  interest  to  note  the  manner  in  which  the  image  of 
Earth  has  been  reconstructed  in  the  imperial  temple  of  Earth  (Ti  t'an) 
of  the  present  dynasty.  In  the  Huang  ch'ao  li  k'i  t'u  shih^  (Ch.  i, 
p.  22  b)  it  is  stated  that  the  image  in  use  there  is  the  huang  Is'ung 
with  reference  to  the  passage  in  the  Chou  li  quoted  at  full  length 
with  the  commentatorial  annotations  that  yellow  represents  the  color 
of  Earth,  and  that  the  ts'ung  is  square.  Consequently,  in  the 
K'ien-lung  epoch,  all  stress  was  laid  on  these  two  features, — 
yellow  and  square,  and  on  this  basis,  an  ideal  reconstruction  was 
attempted  by  mere  intuition.  The  result  is  shown  in  Fig.  70, 
reproducing  the  wood-cut  of  the  huang  ts'ung  in  the  imperial 
Code  of  Rituals.  It  is,  as  described  in  the  text,  quadrangular, 
some  four  inches  and  somewhat  more  in  diameter,  seven-tenths  of  an 
inch  thick  in  the  centre  and  two-tenths  of  an  inch  thick  along  the 
edges,  the  upper  edge  being  convex,  and  the  lower  side  having  the 
shape  of  a segment  (the  figure  is  certainly  misdrawn  in  order  to  show 
the  appearance  of  this  lower  side).  “The  ornaments,”  it  is  said, 
“are  like  mountain-formations,  also  they  serve  in  s\Tnbolizing  Earth.” 
The  unilateral  arrangement  of  this  pattern  is  curious.  Sentiment 
may  have  prevailed  that  the  bare  quadrangular  yellow  jade  piece 
was,  after  all,  insufficient  to  be  a worthy  representative  of  the  deity, 
and  may  have  suggested  the  addition  of  this  hill  ornament. 

On  the  imperial  Altar  of  the  Tutelary  Deities  of  the  Soil  and  the 
Harvest  (She  Tsi  t'an)  of  the  present  dynasty,  the  two  are  worshipjied 
under  jade  images  consisting  of  a quadrangular  solid  foundation  to 
the  upper  and  lower  end  of  which  a kuei  is  attached  {Hang  kuei  yu  ti,  see 

* A finely  illustrated  handbook  describing  the  objects  of  the  cult  and  the  state 
paraphernalia  of  the  reigning  dynasty,  drawn  up  by  order  of  the  Emperor  K'ien- 
lung  in  1759,  and  revised  in  1766  (see  A.  Wylie,  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature, 
p.  72).  A copy  of  this  rare  and  important  work  was  procured  by  me  for  the  John 
Crerar  Library  of  Chicago  (No.  589);  another  copy  is  preserved  in  my  collection 
in  the  American  Museum,  New  York. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 

p.  139).  In  the  Ihiang  ch'ao  li  k'i  t'u  shih  (Ch.  i,  p.  35  b)  where  the 
two  are  sketched,  it  is  stated  that  the  Chou  li  does  not  mention  any 
jade  devices  devoted  to  those  two  gods,  and  that  this  usage  goes  back 
to  the  ritual  established  in  the  K’ai-yiian  period  (713-741  a.  d.)  of  the 
T ang  dynasty.  The  regulations  of  the  Emperor  K'ien-lung  provide 
for  the  Great  God  of  the  Soil  {T'ai  She)  an  image  of  white  jade  with 
yellow  stripes  “to  symbolize  the  virtues  (forces)  of  Earth”  (t'u  te). 


and  for  the  Great  God  of  the  Harvest  (T'ai  Tsi)  an  image  of  green 
jade,  “because  green  implies  the  idea  of  budding.”  Both  pieces  are 
much  the  same  in  shape,  except  that  the  foundation  of  the  latter  is 
square,  w'hile  that  in  the  image  of  the  God  of  the  Soil  is  shaped  like  the 
image  of  Earth  in  the  Ti-t'an  (Fig.  70)  without  the  hill-omaments. 
The  kuei  attached  are  the  same  as  in  the  ancient  Chou  specimens 
(Plate  XV,  Figs.  4 and  5).  The  sides  of  the  central  squares  measure 
three  inches  in  length  and  three-tenths  inch  in  thickness,  while  the 
points  of  the  kuei  are  only  two-tenths  of  an  inch  thick  and  their  sides 
somewhat  thicker.  The  sjTnbolism  expressed  by  the  formation  of 
these  two  images  is  clear : the  square  nucleus  is  emblematic  of  Earth ; 
the  pointed  kuei  is  an  emblem  of  male  potency  and  fertility  and  there- 
fore connected  also  with  the  wonship  of  the  Spring  (see  below). 

The  ta  ts'ung  which  was  the  jade  emblematic  of  the  power  of  the 
empress  at  the  time  of  the  Chou  period  and  the  huang  ts'ung  which  was 
the  image  of  the  deity  Earth,  give  us  occasion  to  grasp  the  meaning 


152  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

of  an  interesting  group  of  pottery  which  has  apparently  derived  its 
peculiar  shape  from  those  jade  objects.  A specimen  of  this  group,  I 
had  already  figured  in  “Chinese  Pottery  of  the  Han  Dynasty”  on 
Plate  XIII  (p.  60)  when  I was  under  the  impression  that  this  cylindrical 
vessel  was  related  to  the  type  of  granary  urn.  Having  now  made  a 
new  most  comprehensive  collection  of  Chou  and  Han  potteiy  for  the 
Field  Museum  which  contains  a good  many  types  heretofore  unknown, 
I can  here  introduce  on  Plate  XVIII  a gray  unglazed  quadrangular 
jar  with  loose  cover  (28.2  cm  high  and  13.5  ern  wide)  which  bears 
two  large  characters  painted  white*  in  ancient  script,  reading  ku  tou 
“grain  vessel.”  I cannot  discuss  in  this  connection,  as  we  do  not 
deal  here  with  the  subject  of  pottery,  why  this  jar  is  classed  among  the 
tou  or  tazza.  But  for  tw'o  other  reasons,  this  inscription  is  of  great 
significance  to  us,  as  it  reveals  that  the  object  of  this  um  was  to  be 
filled  with  grain  to  serve  as  food  for  the  inmate  of  the  grave.  Grain 
is  the  gift  of  the  deity  Earth,  and  the  Spirit  of  Harvest  illou  tsi)  was 
the  natural  outgrowih  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Soil.  And  this  may  account 
for  the  reason  why  an  attempt  is  made  to  imitate  in  this  piece  of  pottery 
the  jade  image  of  Earth.  We  see  here  the  same  short  straight  neck  in 
the  centre  of  the  upper  surface  leaving  room  for  four  comers  as  in  the 
jade  image.  The  four  w'alls  are  sloping  inw'ard  at  their  lower  ends 
so  that  the  bottom  is  narrow\ 

At  the  time  of  the  Sung  dynasty,  we  find  a class  of  vessels  displaying 
a still  more  striking  resemblance  to  the  jade  type.  Four  of  these  pieces 
from  our  collection  are  selected  here  for  illustration  (Plates  XIX  and 
XX).  In  the  first  tw'o  pieces,  the  coincidence  is  perfect,  for  here  we 
have  the  eight  corner-pieces,  rectangles  moulded  in  relief  and  a “tooth ” 
in  each  of  them.  There  is  not  only  a straight  neck  over  the  opening, 
but  also  one  of  identical  shape  set  on  the  bottom,  so  that  in  outward 
a])pearance  these  two  pieces  exactly  agree  wdth  the  jade  ts'ung.  They 
are,  of  course,  square  in  cut,  though  the  comers  inside  have  been 
chamfered,  jjrobably  with  some  intention  to  reach  a closer  similarity 
with  the  originals.  The  one  in  Fig.  i,  Plate  XIX  (28  cm  X 13.5  cm), 
is  covered  wdth  a finely  crackled  buff-colored  heavy  glaze;  the  other  in 
Fig.  2 (24.5  X 10  cm)  is  glazed  gray  with  a slight  yellov^sh  tinge;  both 
have  presumably  been  made  in  the  kilns  of  Ju-chou.^ 

The  piece  of  Sung  potteiw’  in  Fig.  i,  Plate  XX  (28.5  cm  X 11  cm), 
is  remarkable  in  that  the  yellowish  tinge  is  more  intense  in  the  glaze, 
and  that  thus  its  relation  to  Earth  is  more  forcibly  brought  out.  On 

‘ There  is  a goodly  number  of  unglazed  Han  pottery  with  ornaments  and  inscrip- 
tions painted  on  in  white,  red  and  black'  paints. 

^Bushell,  Description  of  Chinese  Pottery,  p.  40  (London,  1910). 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  XVIII 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X.  PL.  XIX. 


Sung  Glazed  Pottery  Vases  Shaped  into  the  Image  of  Earth. 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XX. 


Sung  Glazed  Pottery  Vases  Shaped  into  the  Image  of  Earth. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


153 


each  of  the  four  sides,  the  pa-kua,  the  eight  mystical  trigrams  for 
divination,  are  brought  out  on  panels  sunk  into  the  surface.  It  is 
conceivable  that  the  ancient  “teeth”  could  be  supplanted  by  the  more 
popular  figures  of  the  trigrams.  But  the  original  character  is  also  here 
preser\*ed  in  the  rim  on  which  the  bottom  stands.  This  one  is  want- 
ing in  the  fourth  piece  on  Plate  XX,  Fig.  2 (17  cm  X 11.5  cm),  which 
has  a plain  square  bottom  and  its  four  sides  decorated  wdth  a continual 
svastika  pattern  in  relief;  for  the  rest,  its  shape  is  related  to  the  pre- 
ceding pieces. 

It  is  not  known  for  which  purpose  jars  of  this  type  were  employed. 
There  is,  however,  in  the  Fattg-shih  mo  p'u  (Ch.  3,  p.  4 b;  published  by 
Fang  Yu-lu  in  1588)  the  figure  of  a vase  supposed  to  be  of  jade  and 
belonging  to  the  same  type  as  described.  On  the  surface  of  it,  the 
three  characters  shih  (Giles  No.  9958)  ts'ao  p'ing,  “Vase  for  the 
plant  shih”  are  inscribed.  This  is  a species  of  Achillea,  the  stalks 
of  which  were  used  in  ancient  times  for  the  purpose  of  divination, 
mentioned  in  the  Shi  king,  Chou  li  and  Li  ki  (Bretschneider,  Botan- 
icon  Sinicum,  Part  II,  p.  244).  No  explanation  of  this  piece  is  given. 
\Vu  Ta-ch'eng  figures  a small  quadrangular  jade  vase  of  this  type 
built  up  in  four  sections  which  he  calls  fattg  li,  or  by  a popular  name 
{su  ming)  shih  ts'ao  li}  It  therefore  seems  that  a popular  belief  appears 
to  exist  which  connects  these  jars  with  the  practice  of  di\'ination;  it 
is  perhaps  presumed  that  the  stalks  of  the  plant  were  preserved  in 
them.  As  far  as  I know,  there  is  no  record  to  this  effect  in  the  ancient 
texts.  At  all  events,  this  point  of  view  deserves  attention,  in  case  the 
material  will  increase  in  the  future.  The  possible  employment  for 
divination  might  account  also  for  the  application  of  the  pa  kiia  on  the 
above  mentioned  jar.  \Vu  has  unfortunately  not  examined  his  speci- 
men and  devotes  no  comment  to  it ; I do  not  feel  authorized  to  say  how 
old  it  may  be,  byt  can  say  only  that  it  is  old,  as  Wu  would  not  have 
included  it  in  his  collection  othcnvisc.  It  thus  presents  the  mis.sing 
link  between  the  Chou  jade  images  of  Earth  and  the  Han  and  Sung 
pottery  pieces,  in  that  it  is  a jade  vessel  of  the  “Earth”  tj'pe.  The 
legend  on  our  Han  jar,  “grain  vessel,”  is  of  principal  importance, 
for  it  is  a contemporaneous  interpretation  and  [iroves  the  typological 
unity  of  this  whole  series. 

^This  word  is  written  with  a character  (not  in  Giles)  composed  of  the  classifier 
yii  and  li  “strength.”  It  is  explained  in  K'ang-hi  after  the  Shuo  wen  as  “a  stone 
ranking  next  to  jade.” 


154  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


2.  Jade  Images  and  Symbols  of  the  Deity  Heaven 

There  are  three  kinds  of  annular  jade  objects,  called  pi  (Giles 
No.  8958),  yiian  (No.  13757)  and  hiian  (No.  5043).  The  fonner  is  a 
disk  with  a round  perforation  in  the  centre,  the  two  latter  are  rings. 
The  difference  between  the  three  is  explained  in  the  dictionary  Erh  ya: 
“If  the  flesh  {i.  e.  the  jade  substance)  is  double  as  wide  as  the 
perforation  (hao),  it  is  called  pi;  if  the  perforation  is  double  as  wide  as 
the  jade  substance,  it  is  the  ring  yiian;  if  the  perforation  and  the  jade 
substance  are  equally  wide,  it  is  a ring  of  the  kind  hnan”  This  is  a 
good  point  for  guiding  collectors  in  defining  their  specimens,  although, 
as  measurements  on  actual  specimens  show,  these  definitions  are  by 
no  means  exact,  but  to  be  taken  cum  grano  salis.  The  Chinese,  also, 
determine  these  three  groups  from  the  general  impression  which  they 
receive  from  the  relative  proportions  of  the  dimensions  of  the  ring  and 
the  perforation. 

The  definition  that  the  jade  disk  pi  sjTnbolizes  Heaven,  is  first  given 
by  Cheng  K'ang-cii'eng  of  the  second  century  a.  d.  in  his  commentary 
to  the  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  434).  The  Shuo  wen  states  only  that  pi 
is  an  auspicious  jade  and  a round  implement;  of  dictionaries,  the  Yii 
pien  by  Ku  Ye-wang  (523  A.  D.)  is  the  first  to  register  the  entry: 
“an  auspicious  jade  to  s\Tnbolize  Heaven.”  All  Chinese  archaeologists 
of  later  times  have  adopted  this  explanation.  A singular  position 
is  taken  by  Pan  Ku  in  his  work  Po  hu  t'ung  who  says:  “The  pi  is 
round  on  the  outside  which  sv’mbolizes  Heaven,  and  square  inside 
which  svTnbolizes  Earth.”  Thus,  he  is  quoted  in  K'ang-hi’s  Diction- 
ary, but  this  is  only  a clause  culled  from  a longer  exposition.  If  we  turn 
to  the  edition  of  the  Po  hu  t'ung  in  the  Ilan  Wei  ts'ung  shu,  we  find  in 
Ch.  3,  p.  17  as  follows:  “The  pi  which  is  used  in  soliciting  the  services  of 
talented  men  is  that  kind  of  pi  which  is  square  in  the  centre  and  round 
in  the  exterior.  It  svTnbolizes  Earth,  for  the  action  of  Earth  is  peace- 
ful by  producing  all  objects  of  wealth,  and  hence  the  pi  is  fitted  to 
enlist  talent.  The  square  centre  is  the  square  of  the  female  power 
{yin  te  fang)-,  the  round  exterior  is  the  female  principle  yin  attached  to 
the  male  principle  yang.  The  female  power  is  flourishing  in  the  in- 
terior; hence  its  shape  is  found  in  the  interior,  and  its  seat  is  in  the 
centre.  Therefore,  this  disk  implies  the  shape  of  Heaven  and  Earth 
and  is  employed  in  accordance  with  this.  • The  interior  square  SN^n- 
bolizcs  Earth,  the  exterior  circle  s^TTibolizcs  Heaven.”  Also  Li  Shih- 
CHEN,  the  author  of  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  sjieaks  of  such  circular  pi 
with  square  central  perforations;  but,  as  far  as  I know,  jade  disks  of 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


155 


such  description  have  not  yet  turned  up.  If  they  existed, — and  there 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  Pan  Ku’s  statement, — they 
were  certainly  not  identical  with  the  jade  disks  pi  having  a round 
perforation  and  representing  only  the  image  of  Heaven.  The  clue  to 
their  meaning  is  given  by  Pan  Ku  with  the  words  that  the  services  of 
talented  men  were  enlisted  with  them;  in  other  words,  they  were  tokens 
of  reward,  or  plainly  money,  and  we  thus  come  to  the  surprising  re.sult 
that  they  coincided  in  shape  with  the  well-known  Chinese  copper 
coins  (cash).  For  this  reason,  we  have  to  take  uj)  this  matter  again 
in  speaking  of  the  subject  of  jade  money. 

The  sovereigns  of  the  Chou  and  Han  dynasties  were  accustomed 
to  make  contributions  to  the  funeral  of  deserving  princes  and  states- 
men by  presenting  them  with  coffins,  grave-clothes,  jades  and  other 
valuables  for  burial.  The  bestowing  of  the  jade  disk  pi  on  the  minister 
Huo  Kuang,  together  with  pearls  and  clothing  adorned  with  jade  for 
his  grave,  is  mentioned  in  the  Ts'ien  Ilan  shti  (De  Groot,  The  Religious 
System  of  China,  Vol.  II,  p.  410);  but  not  “emeralds,”  as  there  trans- 
lated, as  these  were  unknown  to  the  Chinese  in  the  Han  period.  In  the 
Old  World,  the  emerald  occurs  only  in  Egypt  and  in  the  Urals,  and  its 
occurrence  in  India  or  Burma  is  not  well  authenticated  (Max  Bauer, 
Precious  Stones,  London,  1904,  p.  317).  The  Chinese  made  its  ac- 
quaintance only  in  recent  times  from  India;  in  the  “ Imperial  Dictionary 
of  Four  Languages,”  it  is  called  tsie-niu-lu  (Manchu  niowarimbu  wehe 
“greenish  stone”)  corresponding  to  Tibetan  mar-gad  and  Mongol 
markal,  both  the  latter  derived  from  Sanskrit  marakata,  which  itself  is 
a loan  word  from  Greek  smaragdos;  to  the  same  group  belongs  the 
Persian  zumurrud,  to  which  the  Chinese  word  seems  to  be  directly 
traceable. 

As  jade  was  a valuable  gift,  it  was  also  a valuable  offering  to  the 
gods.  We  saw  that  it  was  offered  to  the  great  deities  of  Heaven  and 
Earth.  But  on  important  occasions  it  was  given  to  other  gods  too, 
especially  to  the  gods  of  the  rivers,  if  their  assistance  was  invoked  for 
the  success  of  an  enterprise.  When,  under  the  reign  of  P'ing  Kung 
(b.  c.  557-532),  the  two  states  Tsin  and  Ts'i  were  at  war,  the  troops 
of  Tsin  were  obliged  to  traverse  the  Yellow  River.  Siin-yen,  holding 
two  pieces  of  precious  jade  attached  to  a red  cord,  invoked  the  Spirit 
of  the  River  in  the  following  words:  “Huan,  the  king  of  Ts'i,  full  of 

confidence  in  his  fortresses  and  defiles,  proud  of  the  multitude  of  his 
people  and  soldiers,  has  rejected  our  amity  and  destroyed  the  treaties 
of  peace  concluded  with  us;  he  annoys  and  tyrannizes  the  state  of 
Lu.  Hence,  the  last  of  your  servants,  our  prince  Piao  is  going  to  lead 
the  army  of  the  vassals  to  punish  him  for  his  insolence.  I,  Yen,  his 


156  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

minister,  am  in  charge  of  assisting  his  plan.  If  we  shall  succeed,  you, 
sublime  Spirit,  will  be  honored  by  our  success.  I,  Yen,  shall  not  cross 
your  river  again.  Deign,  venerable  Spirit,  to  decide  our  fate!”  With 
these  words,  he  dropped  the  jades  into  the  water  and  traversed  the 
river  (Tschepe,  Histoirc  du  royaume  de  Tsin,  p.  258).  The  God  of 
the  Yellow  River  was  invoked  also  in  making  a solemn  oath  (Tschepe, 
Histoire  du  royaume  de  Ts'in,  pp.  42,  68).  Jade  pieces  were  joined  also 
to  offerings  rendered  to  the  gods.  In  the  year  b.  c.  109,  the  emperor 
visited  the  spot  where  the  Yellow  River  had  caused  a breach  in  the  bank 
and  caused  a white  horse  with  a jade  ring  to  be  thrown  into  the  river 
to  appease  the  God  of  the  River  (Chav.annes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Yol.  Ill, 
P-  533)- 

Early  references  to  the  use  of  the  disk  pi  in  sacrifices  are  given  in  the 
Shu  king  and  Shi  king  (Legge,  The  Chinese  Classics,  Yol.  II,  p.  529). 

There  are  two  principal  types  of  the  disks  pi,  plain  ones  the  impres- 
sion of  which  mainly  lies  in  their  beautiful  colors  and  in  their  size,  and 
smaller  ones  with  elaborate  decorations. 

The  former  were  chiefly  used  for  three  purposes;  for  the  worship  of 
Heaven,  to  be  offered  to  the  Son  of  Heaven  by  the  feudal  princes  on  a 
visit  to  the  court  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  524),  and  for  burial  (p.  120),  the 
s\Tnbolism  being  the  same  in  all  cases,  as  this  disk  was  the  emblem  or 
image  of  round  Heaven.  There  was  perhaps  a diversity  in  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  three,  the  measurement  of  the  imperial  disk  being  given  as 
nine  inches;  for  that  used  in  the  cult  of  Heaven,  no  measurement  is 
given  in  the  Chou  li.  In  all  probability,  there  was  also  a difference  in 
the  colors,  as  the  actual  specimens  show  us.  In  the  collection  of  Wu, 
there  are  two  specimens  called  by  him  ta  pi  “large  disks,”  which  he 
identifies  with  those  presented  by  the  vassal  princes;  of  the  one,  he  does 
not  state  the  color;  the  other  is  of  green  jade.  He  further  has  a ts'ang 
pi  of  green  (ts'ing)  jade  used  in  the  worship  of  Heaven,  and  several  other 
large  pi,  one  of  yellow  and  one  of  white  jade,  both  mixed  with  russet 
spots. 1 These,  I suppose,  served  for  interment,  being  placed  under  the 
back  of  the  corjjse. 

In  our  collection,  there  are  three  large  ancient  disks  pi  of  nearly 
the  same  size  which  may  be  considered  as  images  of  the  deity  Heaven. 
They  are  extraordinary  in  dimensions  and  workmanship.  While  the 
one  in  Plate  XXI  was,  in  all  likelihood,  actually  connected  with  the 
worship  of  Heaven  because  of  its  greenish  color,  the  two  others  may  have 
served  only  burial  purposes. 

The  disk  shown  in  Plate  XXI  has  a diameter  of  22  cm,  the  perfora- 

* There  would  be  no  sense  in  reproducing  these  figures,  as  they  consist  of  two 
concentric  circles  only. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXI. 


Jade  Disk  representing  image  of  the  deity  heaven. 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


JADE  Disks  Symbolic  of  the  Deity  heaven. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.\DE. 


157 


tion  being  5.8  cm  in  diameter,  and  is  4-9  mm  thick.  The  wall  of  the 
perforation  is  slanting,  as  may  be  recognized  in  the  illustration.  The 
coloring  of  this  jade  is  very  curious;  a rhomboid  central  section  is 
colored  dark-green  while  four  segments  stand  out  in  a light-brown 
wdth  greenish  tinge.  A finger-shaped  depression  will  be  observed  in  the 
lower  part,  and  there  is  another  on  the  opposite  face;  presumably,  the 
object  was  held  during  the  ceremony  by  placing  the  fingers  in  these 
grooves. 

The  stone  of  which  the  disk  in  Plate  XXII,  Fig.  i,  is  can-ed  resembles 
in  appearance  the  marble  of  Ta-li  fu  (in  Yiin-nan  Province)  but  is  indeed 
jade.  The  two  faces  are  different  in  coloring.  The  one  not  shown 
has  a white  background  veined  vath  parallel  black  streaks  in  the  jjortion 
on  the  right-hand  side,  a black  segment  in  the  upper  left  comer,  and  is 
covered  throughout  wfith  a veining  of  russet  lines  and  with  patches  of 
the  same  color.  The  other  face  has  a yellowish-white  background  with 
black  patches  of  curious  outlines.  In  the  wall  of  the  perforation  there 
is  also  a black  ring  not  completely  closed.  The  diameter  of  this  piece 
measures  20  cm,  that  of  the  perforation  5.5  cm,  its  thekness  1.2  cm. 

This  disk  (in  Plate  XXII,  Fig.  2)  is  distinguishedialso  by  its  curious 
coloring.  A black  background  is  covered  all  over  with  yellow^  and 
greenish  patches  and  veined  with  red  serpentine  lines.  The  diameter 
of  the  disk  is  21.5  cm,  that  of  the  perforation  5.5  cm  (w'hich  is  the 
same  measurement  as  in  the  preceding  specimen).  In  general  it  is 
1.2  cm  thick,  but  in  three  places  flattened  out  along  the  edge  and  there 
only  0.5  cm  thick. 

It  appears  from  the  Huang  ch'ao  li  k'i  t'u  shih}  (Ch.  i,  p.  i)  that  the 
jade  disk  ts'ang  pi  is  still  employed  as  the  image  of  the  deity  Heaven 
in  the  Temple  of  Heaven  {T'ien  Van)  in  Peking.  According  to  the 
regulations  of  the  Emperor  K'ien-lung,  its  diameter  is  fixed  at  6i'o 
inches,  the  perforation  having  a diameter  of  i'*o  inch;  it  should  be 
some  I'o  inch  and  more  thick.  It  is  not  stated  w'hat  kind  of  jade  is 
used  for  the  purpose,  except  that  it  is  called  blue  (ts'ang).  The  illus- 
tration shows  a disk  covered  wfith  a mass  of  irregular  cloud-shaped 
veins  which  are  apparently  in  the  stone,  i.  e.  a veined  stone  is  chosen 
for  this  image. 

Because  of  their  convenient  form,  these  disks  pi  were  utilized  for 
various  other  purposes,  among  others,  as  we  read  in  the  Chou  li,  for  the 
investiture  of  the  feudal  lords  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  ranks  (p.  86). 
There  are  so  many  varieties  of  these  pi  mentioned  in  the  ancient  texts 
that  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  assign  a clear  definition  to  each 
and  every  given  specimen,  and  even  Wu  has  resigned  here  to  identifica- 


* See  above  p.  1 50. 


158  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

tions.  The  two  types  with  “grain”  and  “rush”  patterns  mentioned 
above,  however,  stand  out  clearly.  In  Fig.  yi,  a.  ku  pi  “disk  with  grain 
design”  of  green  jade  with  red  spots  is  illustrated  after  Wu  who  con- 
fesses that  he  does  not  know  its  meaning.  The  four  monsters  laid 


around  the  edge  in  open  work  are  all  different.  The  one  on  the  left  is 
vdnged  and  bird-headed;  the  two  above  and  below,  with  projecting 
fangs,  have  each  a wing  on  the  back.  There  are  also  plain  ku  pi  in 
Wu’s  collection,  with  geometrical  designs  occupying  the  one,  and  with 
the  “grain”  pattern  taking  up  the  other  face. 

Figure  72  is  a disk  styled  p'u  pi,  of  green  jade  with  russet  patches, 
wdth  a pattern  of  “plaited  rushes,”  as  Wu  explains.  Indeed,  this 
pattern  is  nothing  more  than  a basketry  design  bordered  by  the  basket 
rim,  and  presents  the  interesting  case  of  the  transfer  of  a textile  pattern 
to  a jade  carving.  This  is  then,  doubtless,  what  the  Chou  li  understands 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


159 


by  the  design  of  “rushes”  on  the  jade  token  of  the  feudal  princes  of  the 
fifth  rank.  This  case  is  very  instructive  from  another  viewpoint  in 
showang  how  apt  the  Chinese  themselves  arc  in  misunderstanding  the 
brief  style  pf  their  ancient  texts;  and  not  only  that,  but  also  in  basing 
artistic  designs  on  such  misunderstandings.  They  jumped  at  the 
conclusion  that  the  pattern  merely  styled  “ru.shes”  was  a living  real 
plant  design,  and  delineated  four  live  rushes  on  the  drawings  of  these 


popnoYq 

lyj.lorooj 


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WTOODOX 

^'Q^yaoxxl 
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’s.^f^qqnaoK'.'nonca’''-*' 

i^Q:C’,o:oj:iDDno:o;i^ 

~sr?,-<;p\cyc:^p%V  '•JS 


Fig.  72. 

Jade  Disk  with  Basketry  Design,  p'lt  pi 


jade  emblems  (Fig.  19).  But  the  “rush  pattern”  was  so  named 
because  it  was  patterned  after  a basket  of  ])laited  rush-work.  \Vu 
illustrates  another  p'u  pi  displaying  two  hydras  on  the  upper  face  and 
the  basketry  design  on  the  lower  face. 

Why  was  this  design  applied  to  the  jade  image  of  Heaven?  A kind 
of  rush  called  shhi  p'u  is  mentioned  in  the  Chou  li  among  the  vegetable 
dishes  jjresented  to  the  Son  of  Heaven,  being  one  of  the  five  salted  prepa- 
rations; this  rush  was  plucked  when  it  began  to  sprout  in  the  watei 
(Bretschn'eider,  Botanicon  Sinicum,  Part  II,  No.  375).  The  Li  ki 
(ed.  CouvREUR,  Vol.  II,  p.  449)  compares  a jjrosperous  administration 
with  the  rapid  growth  of  rushes  and  reeds,  and  this  may  account  for 


i6o  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

the  emplo>TTient  of  the  ornament  on  the  disks  bestowed  on  the  feudal 
lords  of  the  fifth  rank.  On  the  other  hand,  rush  baskets  were  used  in 
ancient  times  to  hold  offerings  for  sacrifices  ‘ (e.  g.  Ciiavannes,  Se-ma 
Ts'ien,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  617),  so  that  the  rush-basket  design  on  the  image  of 
Heaven  may  have  well  illustrated  a sacrificial  offering  to  the  Deity. 


Figure  73,  derived  from  Wu,  belongs  to  those  pi  which  cannot  be 
properly  determined  now  as  to  their  mode  of  use.  Wu  explains  the 
one  face  (a)  as  a dragon  pattern,  the  other  (d)  as  a tiger  design.  The 
genuine  ancient  traditions  regarding  the  significance  of  these  ornaments 
are  lost;  the  minds  of  the  modern  Chinese  are  turned  towards  another 
sphere  of  ornaments  of  different  style  and  a different  psychical  basis. 
Wu’s  explanation  is  no  more  than  a modem  reflection.  In  the  upper 
])ortion  of  a we  observe  a conventionalized  bird’s  head,  and  for  the 

* Several  types  of  bamboo  baskets  are  among  the  objects  still  used  in  the  Con- 
fucian  cult  and  in  the  imperial  worship  of  the  cosmic  powers. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


161 


rest  a conglomeration  of  geometric  designs  of  spirals,  small  circles, 
triangles  and  lozenges,  a composition  of  distorted  elements  which  may 
have  suggested  an  animal’s  body  to  a primitive  mind.  Compare  a 
similar  style  in  Fig.  83  (p.  178)  and  Fig.  92  (p.  187). 

While  the  design  on  the  upper  face  (Fig.  73  a)  is  characterized  by 


Fig.  73*. 

Jade  Disk,  pi.  Lower  Face. 


asvTnmetry  and  a studied  irregularity,  that  on  the  lower  face  {b)  is 
striking  for  the  very  rigidity  and  svTnmetry  of  geometrical  arrange- 
ment. The  circular  zone  is  divided  into  eight  equal  comjjartments  ^ 
filled  with  exactly  the  same  designs.  Two  and  two  of  these  belong 
together  as  may  be  ascertained  from  the  presence  of  two  eyes,  two 
nostrils  and  two  curved  bands  apjjarently  forming  a mouth.  But 
what  these  four  heads  were  to  be  in  the  minds  of  the  ancient  designers 

•From  a comparison  with  the  diagram  given  in  M.-vyers’s  Chinese  Reader’s 
Manual,  p.  346,  it  appears  that  the  arrangement  is  identical  with  that  of  the  nine 
(counting  the  center  as  one)  divisions  of  the  celestial  sphere  (kiu  t'ien),  and  this  may 
be  intentional  on  this  disk  representing  Heaven. 


i62  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


escapes  our  knowledge,  and  it  would  be  preposterous  to  speculate  as 
to  their  meaning.  They  differ  from  the  tiger-heads  represented  on  the 
tiger  jadc-tablets  (Figs.  81-84). 

The  design  on  the  jade  disk  in  Fig.  74  which  is  of  intense  interest 
is  interpreted  by  Wu  as  “a  nine-dragons-pattem  with  three  heads  en 
face  and  six  heads  in  profile.”  But  these  six  heads  are  manifestly 
bird-heads,  and  the  arrangement  is  such  that  there  arc  three  pairs  of' 
bird-heads,  and  that  each  of  these  pairs  alternates  with  a dragon-head. 


Each  dragon-head  has  a bird-couple  opposite  to  it,  and  as,  besides,  the 
bird-couple  has  the  same  si)ace  allotted  to  it  as  a dragon-head,  the 
principle  of  arrangement  is  one  by  six  (not  by  nine),  a number  corres- 
ponding to  Heaven  represented  by  the  di.sk.  From  a viewpoint  of 
mere  decorative  art,  this  design  is  a fillet  or  interlaced  band  terminating 
in  birds’  and  animals’  heads.  In  the  decorative  art  of  the  Amur  tribes 
many  traditions  of  very  early  Chinese  ornamentation  have  survived 
to  the  present  da\’,  and  when  engaged  in  a research  of  these  peoples  in 
1898-99,  I had  occasion  to  study  their  ornatncntal  designs  in  connection 
with  the  verbal  explanations  received  from  their  makers.  In  “The 
Decorative  Art  of  the  Amur  Tribes,”  pji.  8-16,  I discussed  at  length 
the  great  importance  of  interlacement  bands  in  their  ornamentation. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.^DE. 


163 

and  pointed  out  that  in  many  cases  they  bear  out  a s\nnV)olic  realism. 
Thus,  e.  g.,  on  the  sacred  spoons  of  the  Gilyak  used  at  their  bear-festivals, 
carvings  of  bears  appear  together  with  fillet-ornaments  forming  loops; 
in  one,  the  image  of  the  bear  is  bound  around  its  body  with  two  roijes 
crossing  each  other  over  its  back,  referring  to  the  first  of  the  ceremonies 
of  the  bear-festival,  when  the  bear  is  taken  from  its  cage,  tied  with 


ropes,  and  led  to  the  scene  of  festivities.  In  this  case,  the  band-orna- 
ment may  be  considered  as  the  continuation  of  the  ropes  with  which 
the  carv^ed  standing  bear  is  bound,  and  this  may  be  the  underlying 
reason  for  the  emplo^-ment  of  this  ornament  on  spoons  specially  designed 
for  the  banquet  of  the  great  bear-festival.  Moreover,  those  spoons 
carved  with  figures  of  bears  are  decorated  \rith  svastikas  on  the  bowls 
and  representations  of  the  sun  alluding  to  solar  worship  together  with 
the  solar  character  of  the  bear.  In  other  objects,  knotted  and  looped 
band-ornaments  refer  to  the  use  to  which  these  objects  are  put,  e.  g.  a 
double-knotted  band  on  a girdle-ornament  of  antler  serving  to  fasten 
the  girdle  implies  a reference  to  the  knots  in  which  the  ends  of  the 


164  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

girdle  are  tied,  and  the  s>Tnbolism  of  elaborate  knotted  bands  on  an  awl 
of  elk-bone  used  to  loosen  knots  speaks  for  itself.  Among  the  Tungu- 
sian  tribe  of  the  Gold  on  the  Amur,  I found  the  representation  of  a 
dragon  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  interlaced  band-omaments  {1.  c., 
p.  40  and  Plate  XIII,  Fig.  i).  I wrote  at  that  time;  “The  band- 
omament  is  so  placed  around  the  monster  as  to  suggest  that  the  animal 
might  be  bound  with  ropes ; it  is  very  likely  the  embodiment  of  the  rain- 
dragon  soaring  in  the  clouds,  but  hampered  by  its  fetters  in  pouring 
out  its  blessings  on  the  thirsty  land.”  I venture  to  apply  this  idea  to 
the  design  in  Fig.  74,  which  is  justified  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Chinese 
and  Tungusian  art  rest  on  a common  historical  basis  and  have  influenced 
each  other  to  a large  extent.  On  this  disk  pi  representing  the  image  of 
Heaven,  an  atmospherical  phenomenon  seems  to  be  represented.  The 
birds  in  connection  with  the  dragons  sjTnbolize  clouds,  as  we  see  from 
the  Han  bas-reliefs  on  stone  (L.a.ufer,  Chinese  Grave-Sculptures  of 
the  Han  Period,  p.  29).  The  dragons  are  fettered  by  bands,  that  is 
to  say,  they  do  not  send  rain,  they  are  in  a state  of  repose.  It  is  the 
picture  of  a sky  slightly  clouded,  but  serene,  over  which  silver-bright 
bird-shaped  cirri  are  hovering,  encircling  dragon-heads  in  majestic 
tranquillity. 

In  this  context  also  the  jade  disk  in  Fig.  75  is  interesting.  It  is 
decorated  with  four  interlaced  bands  on  a liackground  of  cross-hatch- 
ings. It  is  a ku  pi,  the  grain-pattern  kii  being  displayed  on  the  lower 
face. 

We  now  examine  the  decorated  pi  in  our  collection. 

The  disk  of  white  jade  represented  in  Fig.  i of  Plate  XXIII  shows 
two  dragons  of  the  hydra  type  {ch'ih)  facing  each  other,  carved  in  high 
relief  and  undercut  so  that  they  freely  stand  out  from  the  surface 
which  is  smoothly  polished.  The  lower  face  is  decorated  with  knobs 
of  the  same  description  as  in  Fig.  2 identical  wdth  the  “grain”  pattern 
ku,  except  that  they  are  not  laid  in  concentric  circles  as  there,  but  run 
in  seventeen  vertical  rows.  The  diameter  of  the  disk  is  9 cm,  that 
of  the  perforation  1.5  cm;  it  is  7 mm  thick,  1.3  cm,  the  relief  included. 
The  white  spots  apjiearing  in  the  illustration  are  substances  of  white 
clay  embedded  under  the  surface  of  the  jade.  This  piece  may  have 
been  a badge  of  rank  for  the  feudal  princes  of  the  fourth  rank. 

The  di.sk  in  Fig.  2 of  the  same  Plate  (5  cm  in  diameter,  7 mm  thick) 
is  of  a peculiar  drab-colored  jade  (light  in  weight)  with  a stratum  of 
black  in  the  upper  right  portion.  The  ornamentation  on  the  one  face 
consists  of  three  concentric  circles  of  raised  dots  (9-I- 15-I- 20),  on  the 
obverse  of  two  circular  rows  of  double  spirals,  six  in  the  outer  and  four 
in  the  inner  row.  In  all  jirobability,  it  served  also  as  a badge  of  rank. 


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Explanation  of  Pl.  xxill. 

Fig.  i.  Badge  of  Rank  with  Two  Hydras  in  Relief. 

Fig.  2.  Badge  of  Rank  with  "Grain”  Pattern. 

Fig.  3.  Disk  with  Two  Hydras  and  Spiral  Decorations. 

Fig.  4.  Disk  with  Engraved  Hatchet  Design  on  Both  Faces. 
Fig.  5.  Thin  Disk  with  Engraved  Meander  Ornaments. 

Fig.  6.  Kuei  pi  used  in  sacrificing  to  the  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars. 
Fig.  7.  Fragment  of  Disk. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXIII 


6 


I 

3 

5 


decorated  Jade  Disks  of  the  Type  Pi. 


2 

4 

7 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXIV. 


Decorated  jade  Disk  pi,  upper  and  lower  Faces. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


165 

On  the  disk  in  Fig.  3 (7  mm  thick)  a running  ch'ih,  a hydra  of  lizard 
shape  in  flat  relief,  is  brought  out;  on  the  obverse  four  pairs  of  double 
spirals.  The  diameter  is  6 cm,  that  of  the  perforation  2 cm,  so  that 
it  equals  the  width  of  the  jade  ring  and  the  definition  of  the  pi  does 
not  fit  exactly  this  case.*  But  judging  from  the  style  of  ornamentation, 
it  belongs  to  this  class.  The  color  of  jade  is  apple-green  in  various  shades 
clouded  with  numerous  russet  specks  on  both  faces  and  the  edge. 

The  disk  in  Fig.  4 (8  cm  in  diameter  and  4 mm  thick)  is  of  a gray- 
white  lustrous  jade  with  a yellow-brown  zone  in  the  centre  (called  lai 
“girdle”  by  the  Chinese)  cut  out  of  the  stone  in  this  way  intentionally. 
The  ornaments  are  here  all  engraved  and  perfectly  identical  on  both 
faces.  The  two  designs  above  and  below  the  circle  are  similar  to  those 
on  the  dance  hatchets  of  the  Han  period  (Figs.  2 and  3)  and  even  seem 
to  imitate  the  outline  of  such  a hatchet. 

The  flat  disk  (Fig.  5 of  Plate  XXIII,  diameter  4.5  cm)  of  irregular 
thickness  (1-2  mm)  is  covered  vdth  angular  meander  ornaments 
scratched  in  on  both  sides.  It  is  a light-green  transparent  jade  with  a 
black  yellow -mottled  stratum  in  the  left  lower  jjortion. 

The  rectangular  piece  of  green  jade  in  Fig.  7 (4.7  cm  long,  3.4  cm 
wide,  3 mm  thick)  appears  to  me  a fragment,  though  the  four  lateral 
sides  are  polished.  The  decoration  consists  of  rows  of  single  spirals 
knowTi  under  the  name  “sleeping  silkwonn  cocoons”  which,  as  in- 
dicated by  the  circular  line  below  on  the  left,  were  arranged  in  a circular 
band;  hence  it  is  probable  that  this  piece  originally  fonned  part  of  a 
disk.  The  lower  face  is  unomamented. 

Another  fragment  which  is  easier  to  recognize  as  belonging  to  this 
class  is  shovm  on  Plate  XXV,  Fig.  3,  which,  if  wholly  preserved,  would 
doubtless  be  a specimen  of  great  beauty;  it  is  made  of  a sea-green  jade 
ground  into  a very  thin  slab  not  thicker  than  i mm  and  even  only  ]/2 
mm  at  the  outer  edge.  On  the  lower  face,  the  same  geometrical  orna- 
ments as  on  the  upper  face  are  carefully  and  deeply  engraved,  and  it 
seems  as  if  the  artist,  when  the  pattern  on  one  face  was  finished,  held  the 
thin  transparent  plaque  against  the  light  to  make  a tracing  of  these 
ornaments  on  the  opposite  face.  When  found,  all  the  engraved  lines 
of  this  piece  were  filled  with  vermilion. 

The  disk,  the  two  faces  of  which  are  illustrated  on  Plate  XX1\", 
a and  6,  is  a brilliant  carving  of  light-gray  jade  (11.2  cm  in  diameter; 
diameter  of  perforation  3.5  cm;  5 mm  thick).  The  one  side  (a)  is 
decorated  udth  geometric  ornaments  in  undercut  flat  reliefs,  the  single 
components  consisting  of  the  double  spiral  single  or  grouped  b\’’  three, 
raised  dots  and  pointed  wedges  acting  as  space-fillers  between. 

* Pieces  of  these  proportions  are  classed  also  by  \\  u among  the  pi. 


i66  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

On  the  other  face  (b)  three  dragons  of  hydra  type  with  heads  of 
geometric  cast,  the  eyes  being  indicated  by  spirals,  are  displayed  in  the 
midst  of  sea-waves,  the  water  covering  their  waists.  As  these  jade 
disks  originally  represent  the  image  of  Heaven,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  by  the  idea  of  the  dragon’s  association  with  Heaven  that 
the  application  of  dragons  to  these  disks  was  suggested. 

In  the  introductory  notes  to  this  chapter,  we  mentioned  the  two 
types  of  jade  rings  yiian  and  huan.  In  grouping  them  here  with  the 
disks,  we  follow  the  usage  of  Chinese  archeologists.  There  is  little 
known  about  the  rings  yiian.  Wu  Ta-ch'^ng  gives  two  definitions. 
The  one  derived  from  the  Erh  ya  shih  wen  quoting  the  Ts'ang  hie  pien 
(a  work  of  the  Han  jeriod,  see  Bretsciineider,  Botanicon  Sinicum, 
Part  I,  p.  200)  says  that  yiian  is  the  name  of  a jade  girdle-ornament. 
The  other  taken  from  the  commentary  to  the  Shuo  wen  by  Tuan  ex- 
plains that  in  enlisting  a man’s  service  a jade  tablet  ktiei  is  used,  in 
summoning  a man,  the  jade  ring  yiian.  Wu  remarks  that  numerous 
pi  of  ancient  nephrite  have  survived  to  the  present  time,  but  only  a 
few  rings  yuan.  There  are  two  in  his  collection,  and  four  in  our  own. 

In  their  make-up,  these  four  jade  rings  yuan  represented  on  Plate 
XXV  (Figs.  1-4)  show  identical  features  and  only  differ  in  the  colors 
of  the  jade;  they  are  all  unornamented.  That  in  Fig.  i (10.2  cm  in 
diameter  and  3-5  mm  thick)  is  of  a grayish-green  transparent  jade 
with  blue  tinges,  and  brownish  specks  along  the  edge.  The  circle  is 
irregular. 

The  ring  in  Fig.  2 (ii  cm  in  diameter  and  4 mm  thick)  is  of  a 
white-mottled  soap-green  jade  with  black  streaks  and  spots  scattered 
here  and  there. 

The  ring  illustrated  in  Fig.  3 (9  cm  in  diameter  and  4 mm  thick) 
is  of  a color  similar  to  that  in  Fig.  i,  but  lighter  in  shade,  interspersed 
also  with  russet  and  white  specks. 

In  the  ring  shown  in  Fig.  4 (7.6  cm  in  diameter)  the  whole  surface 
is  decomposed,  the  polish,  except  a small  apple-green  portion,  has  dis- 
appeared; and  one  side  is  completely  weathered  out,  and  shrunk  to 
7 mm  compared  with  the  original  thickness  of  ii  mm. 

The  jade  rings  huan  belong  typologically  to  the  same  class,  but 
ideologically  to  another  group.  They  were  worn  as  ornaments  suspend- 
ed from  the  girdle,  and  for  this  reason  we  shall  deal  with  their  svTnbolism 
in  the  chapter  on  Girdle-Ornaments.  We  here  review  merely  the  ma- 
terial in  our  collection. 

The  large  ring  in  Plate  XXVI  measures  15.3  cm  in  diameter,  and 
6 mm  in  thickness,  the  perforation  being  5.8  cm  in  diameter.  It  is 
of  a sea-green  transparent  jade  sprinkled  wdth  white  clouds  in  the  lower 


I 


I 

I 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XXV. 

Figs.  I,  2,  4,  5.  Jade  Rings  of  the  Type  yuan. 

Fig.  3.  Fragment  of  Jade  Disk  pi. 

Fig.  6.  Unique  Jadeite  Ring  with  Projecting  Ridge. 
Fig.  7.  Agate  Ring. 


Jade  Rings. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXV. 


■W'f,  w. 


: 


c 


V 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXVI. 


Jade  Ring  of  the  Type  huan. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


J.VDE. 


167 


right  portion.  The  jade  still  appears  enclosed  in  its  matrix,  a mass  of 
brown  rock.  At  the  lower  end  in  our  illustration  an  incision  will  be 
noticed  which  is  just  large  enough  to  admit  the  thumb-nail,  and  the 
ring  was  doubtless  grasped  or  carried  in  this  way.  On  the  lower  face, 
saw-marks  are  visible. 

It  is  hardly  credible  that  a piece  of  this  dimension  and  weight 
should  have  been  worn  in  the  girdle.  I am  inclined  to  think  that  it 
served  a religious  jjurpose.  The  Ts'ien  II an  shu  relates  that  a jade 
ring  {yii  huan)  was  placed  in  front  of  the  soul-tablet  in  the  ancestral 
temple  of  the  Han  Emperor  Kao-tsu  (b.  c. 206-195). 

The  ring  shown  on  Plate  XXV  in  Fig.  6 (diameter  6 cm)  is  a unique 
specimen,  none  like  it  being  illustrated  in  any  Chinese  book.  There 
is  a projecting  ridge  over  the  perforation  on  both  faces,  and  on  one 
side,  a segment  is  cut  off  from  the  circle  in  an  almost  straight  line; 
this  edge  is  rounded,  well  polished  and  exhibits  a milk-white  color, 
while  otherwise  this  jade  has  a deep-brown-red  agate-like  hue.  Dr. 
O.  C.  Farrington,  curator  of  geology.  Field  Museum,  defines  it  as  jadeite, 
the  specific  gravity  being  3.3. 

Figure  7 on  Plate  XXV  represents  a small  flat  ring  of  red  agate  (2.8 
cm  in  diameter)  covered  all  over  under  the  surface  with  white  stripes. 
Mr.  A.  W.  Slocom  of  the  Department  of  Geology  has  examined  this 
specimen  and  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  these  are  clayish  substances 
already  embedded  in  the  stone  at  the  time  of  carving,  and  that  it  is 
impossible  to  adopt  the  view  of  the  Chinese  that  they  are  due  to  the 
effect  of  burial  or  underground  action. 

Hitherto  we  have  studied  the  tablets  kuei  and  the  disks  pi.  There 
is  also  a type  forming  a combination  of  these  two  and  therefore  desig- 
nated as  kuei  pi.  The  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  524)  attributes  to  it 
a length  of  five  inches  and  says  that  it  serves  in  sacrificing  to  the  Sun, 
the  Moon,  and  the  Stars.  A good  idea  of  the  shape  of  this  symbol  will 
be  eonveyed  by  our  specimen  in  Fig.  6 of  Plate  XXIII,  though  it  is 
only  a miniature  edition  of  the  Han  period. 

It  has  the  annular  disk  in  common  with  the  other  pieces  on  the 
same  plate,  but  has  in  addition  the  so-called  tablet  kuei  attached  to  it, 
the  whole  being  car\^ed  out  of  the  same  stone.  The  upper  projecting 
prong  is  the  handle  of  the  kuei,  and  its  point  is  directed  downward.  It 
\rill  be  seen  from  the  illustration  that  it  is  car\'ed  in  two  sloping  planes 
joining  in  the  centre,  while  it  is  flat  on  the  lower  face.  On  the  circular 
part,  seven  small  circles  are  engraved,  connected  by  lines;  this  is  the 
usual  design  representing  the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear  {Lrsa 
major)  and  points  to  the  use  of  the  object  in  star-worship.  On  the  back 
are  roughly  incised  two  rampant  creatures  with  dragon-like  bodies,  but 


i68  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

with  bird-heads;*  between  them  a flaming  ball  or  jewel  as  is  often  seen 
between  two  dragons  or  two  lions;  it  is  very  likely  an  emblem  of  the 
sun. 

Measured  over  the  knei,  it  is  8 cm  in  length  and  1.5  cm  in  width; 
the  disk  is  3.8  cm  in  diameter  and  6 mm  thick.  The  ground  color 
of  the  jade  is  white  in  which  brown  shades  of  an  agate-like  appearance 
are  sprinkled,  from  a light  iron -rust  or  blood  color  to  a dark-brown 
with  black  specks. 

In  the  Bishop  collection  No.  318  (V^ol.  II,  p.  104;  the  plate  is  in 
Vol.  I)  there  is  a very  curious  kuei  pi  teeming  with  elaborate  decorative 
designs.  Dr.  Busiiell  defines  it  as  a “sacrificial  tablet,  previous  to 
the  Han  dynasty.”  The  central  portion,  perforated  in  all  other  speci- 
mens, is  here  solid  and  countersunk.  The  pi  is  decorated  with  the 
raised  knobs  of  the  “grain”  pattern  which  Bushell  calls  “mammillary 
protuberances”  by  confounding  them  with  the  so-called  nipples  on 
ancient  bronze  bells  and  mirrors,  quite  a different  matter  (see  Hirth, 
Chinese  Metallic  Mirrors,  pp.  250,  257).  The  upper  part  of  the  kuei 
is  surrounded  by  two  dragons  carved  in  open  work,  the  lower  part 
filled  udth  wave  patterns;  on  the  other  face  appear  the  three-legged 
crow  representing  the  sun  and  the  hare  pounding  drugs  with  a pestle 
in  a mortar,  — designs  springing  up  only  in  the  Han  period.  There 
are  three  stars  on  the  top  and  mountains  below,  — completing  the 
evidence  that  an  attempt  has  been  made  at  a reconstruction  of  the 
Chou  tradition,  — sun,  moon  and  stars,  with  the  addition  of  sea  and 
mountains.  It  is  certainly  an  ancient  piece,  judging  from  the  character 
and  color  of  its  jade  and  from  its  technique,  but  it  cannot  be  anterior 
to  the  Han  period. 

Another  kuei  pi  in  the  Bishop  collection  No.  325  (Vol.  II,  p.  107; 
plate  in  Vol.  I),  also  made  “previous  to  Han  dynasty”  is  decidedly 
much  later  than  the  Han  period.  It  is  covered  with  an  inscription  of 
four  characters  in  an  antique  style  (but  of  such  a style  as  proves  nothing 
in  favor  of  antiquity)  read  by  Bushell  ts'ien  ku  shang  hia  and  translated 
by  him  “The  thousand  ages  of  the  above  and  below,  that  is,  of  heaven 
and  earth.”  As  I before  pointed  out,  inscriptions  on  ancient  jade 
pieces  are  always  open  to  suspicion.  But  more  than  this,  I am  sus- 
picious of  the  design  of  five  bats  as  s}Tnbols  of  the  five  kinds  of  happi- 
ness, arranged  on  this  kuei,  — which,  to  my  knowledge,  occurs  neither 
in  the  Chou  nor  in  the  Han  period.  From  a consideration  of  the  jade 
court-girdles  of  the  T'ang  d^masty,  it  will  appear  that  the  bat  as  an 
emblem  of  happiness  on  objects  of  jade  occurs  not  earlier  than  in  the 
T'ang  period. 


'Compare  Fig.  74,  p.  162. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


169 


3.  Jade  Images  of  the  North,  East  and  South 

We  saw  from  the  Chou  It  that  the  quarter  of  the  North  is  worshipped 
under  a jade  s>Tnbol  called  huang,  and  that  the  same  object  is  buried 
with  the  dead,  being  placed  at  the  feet  of  the  coriDse.  The  commenta- 
tors to  the  Chou  li  explain  that  the  shape  of  the  huang  w^as  half  of  the 
perforated  disk  pi,  and  that  it  symbolized  the  winter  and  the  storage 
of  provisions^  w'hen  vegetation  has  ceased  on  earth  and  only  half  of 
Heaven  is  visible.  The  latter  expression  is  explained  by  the  saying 
that  the  constellations  are  the  ornament  of  Heaven,  the  plants  the 
ornament  of  earth,  that  in  the  winter  when  the  plants  have  withered 
away,  only  the  constellations  remain  in  Heaven,  and  that  hence  the 
saying  arose  that  only  half  of  Heaven  is  visible.  From  the  Li  ki  (cd. 
CouvREUR,  Vol.  I,  p.  54s)  we  learn  that  in  the  same  w'ay  as  the  tiger- 
shaped jades  hu,  also  the  jade  huang  w’as  presented  by  the  emperor 
to  a prince  jointly  with  a wine-cup. 

The  ta  huang,  i.  e.  the  large  huang,  a special  kind  of  this  jade  orna- 
ment in  the  shape  of  a semicircle  and  coming  dowm  from  the  Hia  dy- 
nasty,^ w'as  in  the  ancestral  temple  of  Chou-kung  in  Lu,  and  otherwise 
an  object  due  only  to  the  emperor  {Li  ki,  Ming  t'ang  wei,  24;  cd. 
CouvREUR,  Vol.  I,  p.  738).  Wu  T.a-ch'eng  has  identified  one  specimen 
in  his  collection  (Fig.  76)  with  this  large  huang  mentioned  in  the  Li  ki, 
though  he  does  not  give  any  special  reasons  for  so  doing.  He  points 
out  the  great  rarity  of  this  type  and  emphasizes  that  it  is  not  identical 
with  the  top-piece  of  the  ancient  girdle-pendant,  designated  by  the 
same  word  huang,  of  wirich  we  shall  deal  in  a subsequent  chapter. 

The  huang  in  Fig.  77,  derived  also  from  \\  u,  is  of  w^hite  jade  with 
red  speckles.  “In  its  shape,”  remarks  the  author,  “it  differs  from  the 
large  huang;  it  has  tw'o  perforations  in  one  end  and  one  in  the  other, 
but  I do  not  know  how'  it  w'as  used ; in  view'^  of  its  dimensions,  it  cannot 
certainly  have  been  a girdle  ornament.”  I believe  that  pieces  like  this 
one  w’ere  employed  for  burial  ]rurposes  as  indicated  by  the  Chou  li. 

The  carving  in  Fig.  78  of  w'hite  jade  vHth  “a  yellow  mist”  is  in  the 
shape  of  a fish  engraved  alike  on  both  faces.  There  is  an  oval  perfora- 
tion in  the  middle,  and  there  is  one  in  the  head  of  the  fish  indicating 
its  mouth  and  another  in  the  tail.  In  its  make-up,  says  W u,  it  is  of 
antique  elegance,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  a jade  of  the  Chou 
time.  To  explain  the  design  of  the  fish  in  this  huang,  \\  tj  refers  to  the 

'Compare  the  Hymn  to  the  Winter  in  the  Ts'ien  Han  shu  (Chavannes,  Se-ma 
Ts'ien,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  616). 

'This  is  an  addition  of  the  commentary'.  Wu  cites  also  the  Ch'un  Ts'iu  to  the 
effect  that  the  Duke  of  Lu  was  in  possession  of  the  ia  huang  of  the  Hia  dynasty. 


170  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antil,  Vol.  X. 


Fig.  76. 

Jade  Image  huung  of  the  North. 


Fig.  77. 

Jade  Image  huang  of  the  North. 


Fig.  78. 

Jade  huang  in  the  Shape  of  a Fish. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.\DE. 


Jade  of  the  Type  huang. 


I71 


Fig.  80. 

Jade  of  the  Type  huang  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  />'«). 


legend  of  Lii  Shang  or  T'ai-kung  wang  catching  a carp  in  whose  belly 
a jade  carvdng  huang  was  found  with  the  inscription:  “The  family 

Ki  will  be  elevated  to  the  throne,  and  Lii  will  aid  it..’’  ^^’en-wang  then 
met  him  and  recognized  in  him  the  minister  whom  his  ancestor  had 
selected  as  the  only  man  capable  to  make  the  house  of  Chou  prosper.* 
Here  we  have  an  example,  — and  there  arc  several  others,^ — of  jade 
used  in  a prophecy.  It  is  possible  that  this  legend  may  have  induced 
an  artist  to  produce  a huang  in  the  shape  of  a fish,  but  it  does  not  appeal 
to  us  as  a general  explanation,  for  in  our  collection  there  are  two  burial 
jades  of  similar  shape  in  fish-fonn  (Plate  XXXVIII,  F'igs.  4 and  7) 

‘Compare  Pktillon,  Allusions  litt^raires,  p.  24Q.  Ch.wannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien, 
Vol.  IV,  p.  35.  This  legend  is  not  narrated  in  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  but  in  the  Bamboo 
Annals  {Chu  shu  ki  nien). 

-Cn.AVANNES,  Se-ma  Ts’ien,  Vol.  II,  p.  183. 


172  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

used  as  amulets  for  the  protection  of  the  corpse,  and  we  have  two  large 
jade  carvings  of  fishes  originating  from  graves  (Plate  XLI,  Figs,  i and  2) 
so  that  we  can  but  imagine  that  the  fish  must  have  had  a particular 
relation  to  the  dead. 

Figure  79  is  derived  also  from  Wu,  a huang  of  white  jade  in  which 
“mercury  is  absorbed;”  but  the  author  says  nothing  to  elucidate  this 
specimen . 

The  Kii  yii  t'li  p'u  offers  a variety  of  these  huang  in  Ch.  24,  the  first 
of  which  is  here  reproduced  in  Fig.  80.  It  would  be  all  right  as  a 
specimen,  if  the  alleged  inscription  on  the  huang  of  Lii  Shang,  above 
referred  to,  were  not  carved  on  the  back  of  this  piece  in  a neat  style 
of  ancient  characters,  so  that  in  all  likelihood  the  whole  affaii  is  a daring 
forgery  of  the  Sung  period.  And  it  is  positively  asserted  in  the  text 
that  this  object  is  identical  in  fact  with  the  legendary  tablet  of  Lii 
Shang  discovered  in  the  carp’s  belly!  All  the  other  huang  are  of  the 
same  shape  with  a variety  of  patterns  and  all  nicely  inscribed;  it  is 
not  worth  while  speaking  of  them. 

The  Chou  li  says  (p.  120)  that  homage  is  rendered  to  the  region  of 
the  East  with  “the  green  tablet  kuei.”  We  remember  that  Wu  Ta- 
ch'^ng  has  figured  a specimen  under  this  name  (Fig.  28).  But  the 
commentaries  to  the  Chou  li  insist  upon  this  jade  emblem  being  pointed 
like  a lance-head,  and  remark  that  it  symbolizes  the  spring  (correspond- 
ing to  the  East)  and  the  beginning  growth  of  creation  (wu  ch'u  sheng). 
It  was,  in  consequence,  a sjnnbol  of  fertility  indicating  the  awakening 
of  nature  in  the  spring,  and  therefore  also  green  in  color.  And  in  its 
origin,  as  we  pointed  out  also  for  other  reasons,  it  was  no  doubt  a phallic 
emblem. 

With  the  red  tablet  chang,  worship  is  paid  to  the  region  of  the  South 
corresponding  to  the  summer  to  which  the  red  color  refers.  We  gained 
some  idea  of  the  appearance  of  this  sjTubol  from  Figs.  34  and  35.  As 
far  as  I know,  no  specimen  which  would  allow  of  identification  vdth 
this  particular  s\Tnbol  of  worship  has  sur\’ived.  The  commentators 
interpret  that  the  chang,  being  half  of  the  tablet  kuei,  s\Tnbolizes  the 
dying  of  half  of  the  creatures  during  the  summer.  It  was,  accordingly, 
found  by  way  of  geometric  construction  and  s\tti holism.  In  the  Ritual 
Code  of  the  Present  Dynasty  (Huang  ch'ao  li  k'i  t'u  shih,  Ch.  i,  p.  14  b) 
it  is  expressly  remarked  that  no  unanimity  regarding  the  shape  of  this 
chang  has  been  reached,  and  that  it  is  therefore  no  longer  used  in  the 
worship  of  the  sun.  In  1748  it  was  stipulated  that  the  disk  pi  of  red 
color  with  a diameter  of  4 1%  inches,  a perforation  of  A inch  in  diameter, 
and  /o  inch  in  thickness  should  be  employed  in  the  imperial  Temple  of 
the  Sun  (Ji  t'an)  for  the  worship  of  the  Sun.  In  other  words,  this  means 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


173 


that  the  ancient  image  of  the  Sun  of  the  Chou  period  had  sunk  into 
oblivion,  and  that  it  was  then  reconstructed  on  the  basis  of  the  still 
known  jade  image  of  the  Deity  Heaven,  with  the  difference  that  it 
was  on  a smaller  scale  (4.6  : 6.1)  and  of  red  (not  blue)  color.  The 
illustration  in  the  above  work  shows  a jade  disk  of  the  same  construction 
as  that  of  Heaven,  proportionately  smaller,  with  the  same  peculiar 
cloud -like  veining  in  the  stone  (p.  157). 


174  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


4.  Jade  Images  of  the  Deity  of  the  West 

Under  the  name  hu  (Giles  No.  4922)  the  Chinese  archaeologists 
Iiresent  us  a number  of  ancient  jade  carvings  which  differ  widely  in 
shape  and  design.  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  meaning  of  the 
word:  the  character  is  composed  of  the  s\Tnbols  for  “jade”  and 

“tiger,”  and  the  word,  accordingly,  signifies  a jade  carving  in  the  shape 
of  a tiger,  or  a jade  on  which  the  figure  of  a tiger  is  carved.  It  is  but 
rarely  mentioned  in  the  ancient  texts,  twice  in  the  Chou  li,  once  in  the 
Li  ki,  once  in  the  Tso  chuan,  and  first  defined  in  the  dictionary  Shuo  wen 
(100  A.  D.)  “as  an  auspicious  jade  being  the  design  of  a tiger,  used  to 
mobilize  an  army.”  This,  however,  was  a custom  springing  up  under 
the  Han  dynasty,  connected  with  the  ancient  bronze  tallies  called  fti; 
but  the  shapes  and  designs  of  the  latter  differ  from  the  jade  carvings 
hu,  and  I have  no  doubt  that  they  represent  a type  of  objects  developed 
independently  from  the  hu.^  During  the  Chou  period,  the  jade  tablet 
chang  provided  with  a “tooth”  was  employed  to  levy  and  move  soldiers, 
the  teeth  being  the  emblems  of  war.  From  the  Li  ki  (ed.  Couvreur, 
Vol.  I,  p.  545)  and  from  the  Tso  chuan  (Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  Vol.  V, 
pp.  739,  741)^  we  learn  only  that  these  carvings  were  given  as  presents; 
when  an  emperor  offered  a prince  a jade  in  the  shape  of  a tiger  or  the 
semicircular  jade  huang,  he  presented  them  together  with  a wine-cup. 
In  these  cases  we  see  that  these  carvings  were  precious  objects.  To 
understand  their  real  meaning,  we  have  to  turn  to  the  Chou  li.  There 
we  are  informed  that  the  tiger-jade  of  white  color  is  used  in  the  worship 
of  the  western  quarter  (see  above  p.  120).  The  commentator  Cheng 
adds  that  it  has  the  shape  of  a tiger,  and  that  the  tiger  in  his  ferocity 
symbolizes  the  severity  of  the  autumn.  Again,  we  learn  from  the  Chou 
li  (see  p.  120)  that,  together  with  five  other  objects  of  jade,  the  tiger-jade 
was  buried  in  the  grave  at  the  right  side  of  the  corpse,  i.  e.  facing  west 
in  the  grave.  Also  there,  the  figure  of  a tiger  was  the  emblem  or  image 
of  the  West.  It  is  striking  that  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  does  not  call  any  atten- 
tion to  these  passages  of  the  Chou  li  and  does  not  investigate  this  sub- 
ject; he  is  content  with  quoting  the  definition  of  the  Shuo  whi,  which 

' Lu  Ta-lin,  the  author  of  the  K'ao  ku  t'u  (Ch.  8,  p.  3)  quoting  this  definition  of 
the  Shuo  wen  remarks  that  such  a statement  is  not  to  be  found  in  canonical  literature 
(king),  and  that  it  is  not  known  on  what  source  Su-sh6n,  the  author  of  that  dictionary, 
bases  his  statement.  The  Han,  atlds  LC  Ta-lin,  availed  themselves  of  bronze 
tallies  representing  tigers  (t'ung  hu  fu)  to  mobilize  troops,  and  it  may  be  that  his 
statement  is  derived  therefrom. 

2 Legge  translates  “a  piece  of  jade  with  two  tigers  ^ut  upon  it,”  and  Giles 
follows  him.  All  surviving  specimens,  however,  show  only  one  tiger,  even  when 
the  carving  is  executed  on  both  faces,  which  suggests  but  one  animal  to  the  Chinese 
mind;  also  from  a purely  grammatical  viewpoint,  shuang  hu  can  mean  only  “two 
tiger- jades.” 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


175 

does  not  relate  in  fact  to  these  objects,  and  the  passage  from  the  Tso 
chuan. 

The  tiger  is  in  this  case  a celestial  deity  symbolizing  the  cardinal 
palace  of  the  West  and  at  the  same  time  the  autumn,  as  the  Green 
Dragon  corresponds  to  the  spring  (East),  the  Red  Bird  to  the  summer 
(South)  and  the  Tortoise  to  the  winter  (North).  According  to  L.  de 
Saussure  {T'oung  Pao,  1909,  p.  264)  the  tiger  as  symbol  of  the  autumn 
is  Orion.  The  same  author  explains  the  association  of  this  animal  with 
the  autumn  by  referring  to  the  legend  according  to  which  Huang-ti 
tamed  tigers  for  purposes  of  war  so  that  the  name  of  the  tiger  remained 
associated  with  that  of  the  warrior,  and  finally  by  the  fact  that  the 
tiger  descends  in  the  fall  from  the  mountains  to  invade  the  human  habi- 
tations. This  explanation  is  quite  correct.  Schlegel  (Uranographie 
chinoi.se,  p.  572)  has  aptly  pointed  out  that,  according  to  the  Chinese 
naturalists,  the  tigers  pair  towards  the  autumnal  equinox,  and  that  the 
tigress  brings  forth  the  young  ones  towards  the  end  of  April,  so  that 
they  will  appear  about  the  month  of  May,  the  first  month  of  the  summer. 
I can  confirm  this  observation  from  a personal  experience:  while  once 
strolling  around  in  the  province  of  Hupeh  in  the  latter  part  of  May, 
I met  a party  of  sturdy  Chinese  hunters  who  had  just  caught  alive  a 
couple  of  graceful  tiger-cubs  in  the  high  mountains  and  offered  it  to 
me  for  sale.  They  were  two  jovial  little  creatures  tame  like  cats,  and 
certainly  only  a few  weeks  old.  During  the  summ.er,  they  remain  in 
their  mountain  resorts,  — and  therefore  the  tiger  is  a solar  animal 
(yang  wu),^  the  lord  of  the  mountains  >(5/fan  kutt),  the  chief  of  all  the 
quadrupeds  (pai  shou  chih  ch'ang),  — until  they  have  gained  sufficient 
strength  to  enter  on  their  d^but  in  the  autumn.  For  this  reason,  the 
image  of  the  tiger  is  a sign  of  the  zodiac  to  mark  the  commencement  of 
the  summer,  and  the  beginning  of  the  fall  is  signalized  by  the  awakening 
of  the  young  tiger  to  its  full  strength.  We  now  understand  why  in  the 
Han  period  the  tiger  s>Tnbol  was  used  as  a token  of  command  over  the 
army. 

Figure  81  derived  from  the  work  of  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  represents  a 
tablet  of  white  jade  perforated  in  the  apex  showing  a band  below  the 
aperture  on  which  the  figure  of  a recumbent  tiger  is  engraved  in  flat 
relief.  The  reverse  displays  the  same  design.  I am  under  the  impres- 
sion that  this  object  presents  the  oldest  form  of  these  tiger-jades  used  in 
the  cult.  The  tablet  was  doubtless  suspended  freely  from  a cord 
passing  through  the  aperture  so  that  the  design  of  the  animal  could 
be  viewed  from  both  sides. 

* He  is  seven  feet  in  length,  because  seven  is  the  number  appertaining  to  yang, 
the  male  principle,  and  for  the  same  reason  his  gestation  endures  for  seven  months 
(Mayers,  The  Chinese  Reader’s  Manual,  p.  60). 


176  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


Fij^rc  82  illustrates  a carv'ing  of  white  jade  filled  all  over  with  clay 
matter  and  dug  up  in  Shensi  {Kuan  chung  ch'u  t'u).  It  is  in  the  shape 
of  a knob  displaying  a s\TTimetrical  tiger’s  face  of  geometrical  mould 
on  the  front,  and  a pair  of  feet  caived  out  on  the  back.  It  will,  of 
course,  lie  difficult  to  say  in  each  particular  case  to  what  use  a given 
piece  was  turned,  whether  it  was  intended  for  the  cult  or  as  a gift  or 


Fig.  81. 

Jade  Tablet,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  with  Design  of  Tiger,  used  in  the  Worship  of  the  West 


as  an  ornament  with  a specific  meaning  which  may  escape  our  knowledge. 
It  is  not  out  of  the  question  that  in  certain  localities  of  China  where 
there  was  an  abundance  of  tigers  the  animal  was  actually  worshipped 
under  an  image  like  these,  and  that  these  images  were  u.sed,  as  rude 
drai\ings  in  modern  times,  to  ward  off  evil  demons  (compare  Grube, 
Religion  und  Kultus  der  Chinesen,  pp.  123,  177). 

The  four  strokes  engraved  twice  on  the  forehead  of  this  tiger-face 
(Fig.  82)  are  noteworthy,  as  they  were  interpreted  later  as  the  written 
character  wang  king  which  is  always  found  on  the  modern  conven- 
tional tiger-heads  as  they  occur  on  shields  of  plaited  rattan,  on 
soldiers  buttons  or  on  amulets  in  the  form  of  paintings  or  woodcuts. 

The  carving  in  Fig.  83,  also  of  white  jade,  and  identical  on  both 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


177 


sides,  .shows  a strongly  conventionalized  figure  of  the  tiger  with  an 
arrangement  of  spiral  ornaments  on  the  body  such  as  is  met  with  also 
on  other  jade  pieces  connected  with  the  symbolism  of  the  quarters. 

In  Fig.  84  a jade  carving  of  a reclining  tiger  is  reproduced  after  \Vu, 
which  I believe  was  the  type  buried  on  the  right  side  of  the  corpse,  as 
described  in  the  Chou  li;  for 
the  lower  face  of  this  specimen 
is  flat  and  is  j^rovided  with  two 
oval  cavities  intercommunicating 
below  the  surface  for  the  pass- 
age of  a thread,  and  e.xactly  the 
same  method  is  employed  with 
other  jade  burial  pieces  of  this 
description  in  our  collection,  in- 
dicating that  they  were  fastened 
to  the  grave-clothes.  For  this 
reason,  I believe  to  be  justified 
in  this  identification. 

The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Chs.  22 
and  23)  has  deluged  us  with  no 
less  than  twelve  of  these  jade 
carvings  of  tigers.  This  ver>' 
number  is  apt  to  cause  suspicion, 
and  our  suspicion  must  increase, 
as  all  these  specimens  have  their 
definitions  carved  into  their 
lower  faces  and  even  some  the 
character  hu  on  the  front.  This 
was  certainly  not  customaiy  in 
the  Chou  period.  The  speci- 
mens of  Wu  demonstrate  that 
there  must  have  e.xisted  a large 
variety  of  these  tiger-jades.  The 
Ku  yii  I'u  p'u,  however,  has  only  one  type  different  from  those  of  Wu 
and  conjugated  through  the  paradigma  of  the  usual  decorative  scheme. 
This  shows  that  these  twelve  specimens  are  merely  artificial  and  imagin- 
ary reconstructions,  devoid  of  archaK)logical  value.  In  Fig.  85  one 
may  be  given  as  e.xample  which  is  sufficient  for  all.  This  monster  does 
not  bear  any  resemblance  to  the  traditional  representations  of  the  tiger, 
but  is  evidently  a fish-monster  with  dorsal  fins.  This  supposition  is 
confirmed  by  two  other  figures  of  Am  in  the  same  book  which  are  actually 
covered  with  fish-scales  styled  “whale-pattern”  {king  wen).  The.se 


Fig.  82. 

Jade  Carving  of  Tiger’s  Head,  Upper  and  Lower 
Faces. 


178  Field  Museum  oe  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


alleged  tiger- jades  are  therefore  not  tigers  at  all  and  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  ancient  hu  of  the  Chou  period;  they  are  simply  ornamental 
fantasies  and  inventions  of  the  Sung  epoch.  The  present  specimen  in 
Fig.  85  is  said  in  the  accompanying  text  to  be  of  red  jade,  a statement 


plainly  contradicting  the  tradition  of  the  Chou  li  that  they  were  made 
of  white  jade,  as  the  specimens  of  Wu  are  in  fact.*  The  body  of  the 
monster  is  filled  with  meanders,  the  “thunder  pattern”  {lei  wen),  and 
the  explanation  is  that  the  tiger  has  a voice  like  thunder  and  was 
therefore  adorned  in  ancient  times  unth . the  pattern  of  thunder,  a 
statement  not  warranted  by  any  ancient  text. 

'The  white  color  is  necessary,  as  it  constitutes  the  symbolism  of  “the  white 
tiger"  {pai  hu)  who  presides  over  the  western  quadrant  of  the  celestial  sphere. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


179 


The  explanation  for  thi.s  invention  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  is  not  far 
to  seek.  If  we  turn  to  the  Po  ku  t'u  (Ch.  26),  we  find  there  four 
engravings  of  bronze  antiquities  (Figs.  86-89)  styled  k'ing  “resonant 
stones.”  It  appears  from  this  name  that  these  objects  arc  imitations 
in  bronze  of  the  original  jade  sonorous  instruments,  of  which  we  shall 
have  to  speak  later  on.  Here,  the  shapes  and  designs  of  these  instru- 
ments interest  us  in  connection  with  the  pattern  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u. 


Fig.  84. 

Jade  Carving  of  Tiger,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces,  buried  to  the  West  of  the  Corpse. 


Here  we  observe  in  fact  a fish  monster  with  dorsal  fins  ending  in  a bird’s 
head  in  Fig.  87,  and  the  bodies  are  filled  with  compositions  of  meanders 
and  sjurals.  Here,  they  are  in  their  proper  place  with  a significant 
function,  as  these  instruments  were  struck  with  a wooden  mallet  to 
produce  sounds  “like  thunder.”  Now  the  object  in  Fig.  88  is  called 
Chou  hu  k'ing,  i.  e.  a resonant  bronze  plaque  in  imitation  of  a tiger- 
shaped jade  of  the  Chou  dynasty.  The  Po  ku  t'u  says  that  this  k'ing 
is  made  in  the  shape  of  a hu  and  therefore  regarded  as  and  called  a hu, 
that  anciently  these  hu  were  employed  in  the  worship  of  the  Western 
Quarter  and  derived  their  shape  from  that  of  a tiger,  and  that  also  in 
the  interior  the  figure  of  a tiger  is  outlined  to  characterize  the  nature 
of  this  object.  We  certainly  do  not  know  in  how  far  the  drawing  of 
the  Po  ku  t'u  is  correct,  and  if  so,  whether  this  bronze  type  repre.sents 


i8o  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axtii.,  Vol.  X. 


a really  faithful  reproduction  of  an  ancient  tiger-jade,  or  which  is  more 
probable,  a much  more  elaborate  design.  It  can  hardly  be  imagined 


Fi(..  86. 


Fig.  87. 

Bronze  Sonorous  Instruments  of  the  Chou  Period  (from  Fo  ku  t'u,  edition  of  1603) 


that  this  complicated  structure  adorned  the  jade  specimens  of  the  Chou, 
esjiecially  if  we  compare  it  with  the  simpler  types  of  \Vu.  The  style 
of  drawing  in  Fig.  88  is,  in  my  opinion,  traceable  to  ancient  Siberian 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.^DE. 


181 


art  (with  a distant  relationship  to  the  famous  fish  of  Vettersfelde), 
but  this  question  does  not  concern  us  here.  \Vc  mean  to  establish 


Fig.  8«. 

Bronze  Sonorous  Instrument  of  the  Chou  Period  in  Shape  of  Tiger  (from  Po  kii  t'li,  edition  of  1603). 


Fig.  89. 

Bronze  Sonorous  Instrument  of  the  Chou  Period  (from  Same  Source). 


Fig.  90. 

Jade  Carving  of  Tapir  (allfeged  Tiger,  from  K'ao  kti  t'u). 

only  the  case  that  specimens  of  this  kind  have  furni.shed  the  models 
to  the  authors  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  or  to  the  artisans  responsible  for  the 
collection  there  described,  in  framing  their  type  of  tiger-jade. 


i82  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

Figure  90  represents  a jade  carvdng  derived  from  the  K'ao  ku  t'u 
(Ch.  8,  p.  2)  and  there  styled  hu  “jade  tiger.”  But  it  will  be  readily 
seen  that  this  animal  is  by  no  means  a tiger,  but  is  provided  with  the 
head  of  a tapir. 

Under  the  regulations  of  the  reigning  dynasty  (Huang  ch'ao  li  k'i 
t'u  shih,  Ch.  I,  p.  51  b),  the  image  of  the  white  tiger  has  been  abolished 
in  the  imperial  temple  of  the  Moon,  because  there  is  no  consensus  of 
opinion  concerning  its  real  .shape.  It  has  been  replaced  by  a disk  of 
white  jade  (pai  pi),  3,%  inches  in  diameter  with  a quadrangular  perfora- 
tion of  some  ir^ch  and  more,  and  some  1^*0  inch  and  more  thick. 
Judging  from  the  illustration,  the  stone  is  pure  white,  unornamented 
and  un veined. 

The  tiger  was  regarded  as  ]iossessing  the  power  of  chasing  away 
demons,  as  stated  in  the  Fung  su  t'ung  (Ch.  8),  a work  by  Yrxo  SiiAO 
of  the  end  of  the  second  century  a.  d.  But  there  are  earlier  testi- 
monials on  record  of  tigers  watching  the  grave,  as  the  following  story 
will  show;  and  the  burial  of  tiger-heads  cast  in  bronze  as  practised  in 
the  Chou  period,  as  we  shall  see,  was  very  likely  connected  with  a 
similar  notion. 

Ho  Lii,  the  king  of  Wu  (b.  c.  513-494)  was  buric'd  in  a triple  coffin 
made  of  copper.  In  front  of  his  tomb,  a water-course  six  feet  deep  was 
dug;  in  the  coffin,  ducks  and  geese  of  gold,  pearls,  and  his  three  precious 
swords  were  placed.  The  tomb  was  surmounted  by  the  stone  carving 
of  a tiger  and  hence  called  Tiger’s  Hillock.  The  tiger  was  there  to 
protect  the  grave,  as  we  see  from  the  legend  told  concerning  the  Em- 
peror Ts'in  Shih  Huang  who  once  passed  that  place  and  desired  to  take 
the  three  swords  of  Ho  Lii;  but  a live  tiger  then  crouched  over  the 
grave  to  guard  it;  the  Emperor  seized  a sword  to  kill  it;  he  missed  it 
and  struck  the  stone,  the  mark  still  being  visible.  Then  the  tiger  fled, 
but  the  Emperor  despite  his  boring  a hole  into  the  grave  did  not  And 
the  swords.  According  to  another  tradition,  this  grave  had  already 
been  opened  before  and  dishonored  by  the  ]ieo])le  of  Yiieh  on  one  of 
their  invasions  into  the  kingdom  of  \Vu.^ 

In  the  collection  of  Mr.  Sumitomo  in  ()saka,  Japan,  there  is  an 
ancient  Chinese  bronze  of  the  type  of  the  kettle  yti  shaped  into  the 
figure  of  a tigress  suckling  a human  child.*  This  unique  and  extra- 
ordinary work  is  doubtless  intended  to  illustrate  an  ancient  legend  of 
the  country  of  Ch'u.  Jo  Ngao,  prince  of  Ch'u  (b.  c.  789-763),  was 
manied  to  a princess  of  Yiin  who  bore  to  him  a son,  Tou  Po-pi.  On 
his  father’s  death,  the  boy  followed  his  mother  into  her  native  country 

'A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaumc  dc  Ou,  pp.  99-100  (Shanghai,  1896). 

’“Published  in  The  Kokhi,  \o.  163,  1903,  Plate  II. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


183 

Yim,  where  he  was  brought  up.  In  his  youth,  he  had  an  intrigue  with 
a princess  of  the  court  there,  and  the  fruit  of  this  clandestine  union  was 
a child  who  subsequently  was  to  be  a famous  minister  in  the  state  of 
Ch'u.  The  grandmother  ordered  the  infant  to  be  carried  away  and 
deserted  on  a marsh,  but  a tigress  came  to  suckle  the  child.  One  day 
when  the  prince  of  Yiin  was  out  hunting,  he  discovered  this  circum- 
stance, and  when  he  returned  home  terror-stricken,  his  wife  unveiled 
to  him  the  affair.  Touched  by  this  marvellous  incident,  they  sent 
messengers  after  the  child  and  had  it  cared  for.  The  people  of  Ch'u, 
who  spoke  a language  differing  from  Chinese,  called  suckling  non,  and 
a tiger  they  called  yii-t'u;  hence  the  boy  was  named  Nou  Yu-l'n 
“Suckled  by  a Tigress.”^  He  subsequently  became  minister  of  Ch'u. 
The  time  to  which  this  tradition  is  ascribed  is  the  end  of  the  eighth 
century  b.  c.,  and  it  seems  very  likely  that  the  bronze  referred  to 
presents  an  allusion  to  this  event  and  was  cast,  in  commemoration  of  it, 
soon  afterwards  while  the  story  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  and  im- 
agination of  the  contemporaries.  The  work  exhibits  the  brilliant 
technical  faculty  of  bronze-casting  of  that  period,  and  I should  go  still 
further  to  say  that  it  must  have  originated  from  the  hands  of  an  artist 
of  Ch'u  who  created  it  for  the  glorification  of  his  country;  fertile  poetic 
imagination  distinguished  the  people  of  Ch'u  from  the  Chinese,  as 
shown  by  their  songs  preserved  in  the  Shi  king  and  by  the  famous 
elegies  of  K'ii  Yiian.  If  we  look  upon  this  production  as  an  artwork 
of  Ch'u,  we  readily  appreciate  the  fact  that  this  piece  is  unique  and 
was  saved  from  the  doubtful  honor  of  being  copied  or  imitated  in  later 
times;  the  subject  was  not  apt  to  appeal  to  the  Chinese.  In  speaking 
of  it  in  this  connection,  it  was  my  intention  to  point  out  the  early 
deification  of  the  tiger;  also  in  this  case,  he  is  a guardian-spirit  watch- 
ing over  the  life  of  a child  as  he  drives  away  the  enemies  from  a grave. 
As  a deus  protector,  his  image  appears  also  on  Chinese  bronzes  at  an 
early  date.  I secured  for  our  collection  a bronze  tiii  of  the  Chou 
period  surmounted  by  the  full  figure  of  a tiger;  a beautiful  bronze 
ewer  excavated  near  the  city  of  Ho-nan  fu  in  the  summer  1910,  the 
spout  of  which  is  formed  by  a finely  modeled  tiger-head  with  open 
jaws  spurting  forth  the  water  when  poured  out;  and  a colossal  bronze 
\'essel  made  in  the  Court-atelier  of  the  Sung  emperors  with  a cover 
woiked  into  an  imposing  tiger-head  pointing  to  an  ancient  model  of 

' Compare  Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  Vol.  V,  p.  297,  and  Tschepe,  Histoire  du 
royaume  de  Tch'on,  p.  34.  The  word  noti  seems  to  be  related  to  Tibetan  nu  in 
nu-ma  “breast”  and  nu-ha  “to  suck;”  \n  yii-t'u,  yw  is  a prefix,  and  t'u  possibly  points 
to  Tibetan  s-tag  (pronounced  ta)  “tiger.”  Nevertheless,  this  very  expression,  i.  e. 
the  position  of  the  words,  shows  that  the  language  of  Ch'u  did  not  belong  to  the 
Tibeto-Burman,  but  to  the  Shan  group;  for  a Tibetan  language  could  make  only 
yii-t'u  nou,  but  never  in  the  reverse  order. 


184  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

the  Chou  period.  There  is,  further,  in  our  collection  a unique  bronze 
two-edged  sword  of  the  age  of  the  Chou,  on  the  handle  of  which  the 
fine  figure  of  a tiger  is  engraved,  while  the  blade  is  decorated  with 
parallel  stripes  in  black  lacquer,  in  all  probability  denoting  the  stripes 
of  the  tiger’s  fur.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  intention  of  the  sym- 
bolism here  brought  out;  it  seems  to  convey  the  belief  that  this  sword 
was  to  be  imbued  with  the  strength,  spirit  and  prowess  of  the  tiger, 
and  that  his  double  picture  essentially  increased  its  power.  We  have 
seen  that  tiger-heads  are  represented  on  the  bronze  pegs  of  the  Chou 
wheel-naves  (Plate  XVI)  where  they  apparently  act  as  defenders  of 
the  chariot;  they  are  likewise  familiar  to  us  on  the  bronze  vases  of  the 
Chou  and  the  Han,  and  particularly  on  the  Han  mortuary  pottery- 
vases  as  relief-heads  on  the  sides.  We  also  remember  the  running 
tigers  designed  in  hunting-scenes  on  the  relief-bands  of  those  vases. 
They  occur  again  as  full  figures  in  the  bronze  tallies  used  in  the  mili- 
tary administration  of  the  Han,*  and  in  many  other  examples.  This 
manifold  utilization  of  the  tiger  furnishes  evidence  for  the  ancient 
belief  of  the  Chinese  in  his  divine  powers  and  attributes,  which  cul- 
minated in  the  erection  of  his  image  for  the  worship  of  that  celestial 
and  terrestrial  region  ruled  by  his  spirit,  the  West.  It  may  be  well 
to  bear  this  in  mind  in  view  of  the  great  importance  that  the  tiger  has 
later  assumed  in  Taoism  which  is  composed  of  popular  notions  going 
back  in  their  foundation  to  a large  extent  into  times  of  earliest  antiq- 
uity. 

Another  anthropomorphic  creation  of  the  ancient  Chinese  is  the 
monster  i'ao-t'ieh  which  frequently  occurs  in  conventionalized  designs 
on  early  bronzes.  Dr.  Bushell  (in  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  106)  made  the 
following  suggestive  remark  on  this  subject:  “The  gluttonous  ogre 
with  a fang  projecting  on  each  side,  no  doubt  figures  the  all-devouring 
storm-god  of  the  Chinese,  with  a background  of  clouds.  The  scrolls 
indicate  thunder  {lei).  The  ancient  hieroglyph  representing  this  was 
composed  originally  of  a cross  with  the  4 ends  terminating  in  spiral 
curves.  The  Chinese  believe  that  bronze  vessels  were  first  cast  by 
their  old  sovereign  Yii  the  Great,  and  moulded  by  him  with  the  forms 
of  the  stonn-gods  of  the  hills  and  the  waters,  so  that  the  people  might 
lecognize  their  dreaded  features  and  av'oid  them.”  It  is  matter  for 
regret  that  Dr.  Bushell  did  not  develop  his  view  by  giving  the  material 
on  which  he  based  it.  We  hear  indeed  of  a Master  of  the  Wind  and  a 
Master  of  the  Rain  in  the  third  century  b.  c.  and  in  Se-ma  Ts'ien,^ 
and  Bushell’s  opinion  would  furnish  a sensible  explanation  for  the 

' Chavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  II,  p.  466. 

’Chavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  444. 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade.  185 

fact  that  the  t'ao-t'ieh  always  appears  on  a background  of  meanders 
emblematic  of  atmospheric  phenomena.  But  it  seems  doubtful  if 
this  view  of  the  matter  covers  the  whole  ground  of  what  the  Chinese 
have  to  say  in  regard  to  this  monster.  Prof.  Hirth  (The  Ancient 
History  of  China,  pp.  84-87)  has  devoted  a very  ingenious  discussion 
to  this  subject  which  should  be  taken  as  the  starting-point  for  further 
investigations.  It  is  very  po.ssible,  as  Hirth  thinks,  that  the  Tibetan 
mastiff  lent  its  features  to  the  iconographic  types  of  this  monster, 
since  the  mastiff  was  also  deified  in  the  shape  of  pottery  figures  to  watch 
the  grave  in  the  Han  period,  and  we  now  know,  also  at  the  time  of 
the  T'ang  dynasty.  I do  not  mean  to  have  said  anything  conclusive 
here,  but  merely  wish  in  this  connection  to  point  to  this  monster  as 
an  anthropomorphic  conception,  a subject  which  is  deserving  of  a 
thorough  investigation.  It  is  time  to  insist  on  viewing  this  monster 
in  the  light  of  a deity,  and  not  merely  to  regard  it  as  a purely  decorative 
emblem  of  vases. 


i 


i86  Fiei.d  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


5.  Jade  Images  of  the  Dragon 

The  dragon,  in  intimate  connection  with  the  growth  of  vegetation, 
appears  as  a deity  s\Tnbolic  of  fertile  rain,  of  rain-sending  clouds,  of 
thunder  and  lightning;  it  is  therefore  invoked  in  times  of  drought  with 
prayers  for  rain.  A carving  of  jade,  cut  out  in  the  shape  of  a dragon 
is  (in  this  case)  placed  on  the  altar.*  This  object  is  called  lung  (Giles 
No.  7491),^  the  character  being  composed  of  the  classifier  yii  (jade) 
and  the  complement  lung  (dragon).  It  .seems  that  such  offerings  of 


Fig.  91. 

Jade  Carving  of  Dragon  used  in  Prayers  for  Rain. 


dragon-figures  carved  from  jade  come  into  existence  as  late  as  the  Han 
period;  they  are  not  made  mention  of  in  the  Chou  li  or  in  the  Li  ki. 

Wu  Ta-ch'eng  has  figured  three  pieces  of  this  type  here  reproduced 
in  Figs.  91-93.  The  first,  made  of  white  jade  with  black  stripes,  is 
shaped  in  a half-circle,  the  centre  of  which  is  occupied  by  a trapezoidal 
escutcheon-like  medallion  overlapping  the  ring;  it  is  filled  with  designs 
known  under  the  name  “sleeping  silkworm  cocoons”  doubled  up,  in 
five  rows  containing  7,  6,  5,  4 and  3 of  them.  From  this  centre-piece 
two  dragon-heads  spring  forth,  their  faces  turned  towards  each  other; 

•The  source  for  this  statement  is  the  dictionary  Shuo  wen:  “The  lung  (dragon- 
shaped jade)  is  the  jade  for  prayer  on  behalf  of  a drought;  it  has  the  form  of  a dragon, 
and  a jade  designed  with  this  motive  has  also  the  dragon’s  voice.”  Hence  the 
phrase  ling  lung  denotes  the  tinkling  of  jade.  In  earliest  times,  prayers  for  rain 
were  addressed  to  Shen-nung,  the  father  of  husbandry  (Legge,  Shi  king,  Vol.  II, 
P-  .378)- 

- The  definition  given  of  this  word  in  Prof.  Giles’s  Dictionary  is  perfectly  correct, 
while  that  given  by  Couvkecr  (Dictionnaire  de  la  langue  chinoise  classique,  p.  588) 
“tablet  bearing  the  figure  of  a dragon  and  serving  to  demand  the  cessation  of  rain” 
is  erroneous. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


187 


the  necks  are  decorated  with  scales,  and  above  them,  fish-tails  become 
visible,  so  that  the  dragons  must  be  conceived  of  as  coiled.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  there  are  diversities  in  the  delineation  of  the  two  heads ; 
the  one  on  the  left  has  a fish -pattern  over  the  eye  and  fish-scales  on 
the  upper  jaw  below  the  nose,  besides,  two  spirals  in  the  lower  jaw  and 
another  over  the  hind-head.  These  elaborate  details  are  wanting  in 


Fig.  92. 

Jade  Carving  of  Dragon. 


the  head  on  the  opposite  side;  perhaps  the  two  are  to  be  looked  upon 
as  male  and  female  dragons. 

In  Fig.  92  derived  from  Wu’s  book  which  is  made  of  a white  jade 
with  reddish  spots,  the  two  dragons  almost  form  a ring,  the  heads 
being  separated  by  a narrow  space  only  as  in  the  half-rings  kiieh.  The 
geometric  treatment  of  the  dragons  is  remarkable,  everything  being 
dissolved  into  bands  and  spirals,  and  but  for  the  eyes  which  are  plainly 
marked,  it  would  be  hard  to  guess  the  figure  of  the  dragon  in  this  de- 
sign. The  candng  in  Fig.  93  is  stated  to  consist  of  white  jade  over 
which  a yellow  “mist”  is  spread,  interspersed  with  russet  spots;  here 
the  dragon  forms  a complete  ring,  and  a Ju-i  sceptre  (see  Plate  LX\  III) 
is  inserted  between  head  and  tail. 

\Vu  does  not  give  a period  for  these  three  specimens.  They  are  of 
a highly  elaborate  artistic  character  and  doubtless  productions  of  the 


i88  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


age  of  the  Han.  This  agrees  with  the  fact  that  these  objects  were 
adopted  into  the  cult  at  that  time.  The  dragon  when  invoked  for 
rain  as  the  embodiment  of  the  fertilizing  power  of  water  thus  became 
a veritable  deity.  For  full  details  on  these  prayer  ceremonies  for 
rain  see  G.  Schlegel  “Uranographie  chinoise,”  pp.  453-459  and 
De  Groot,  “Les  fetes  annuelles,”  p.  361.  If  we  look  upon  the  dragon 


Fig.  q3. 

Jade  Carving  of  Dragon. 


as  a deity,  we  shall  at  once  arrive  at  a better  undei  standing  of  the 
various  conceptions  of  the  dragon  in  religion  and  art;  the  manifold 
types  and  variations  of  dragons  met  with  in  ancient  Chinese  art  are 
representatives  of  different  forces  of  nature,  or  are,  in  other  words, 
different  deities.  At  this  point,  the  investigation  must  set  in;  we 
cannot  expect  to  understand  Chinese  art  properly,  wnthout  being 
cognizant  of  all  the  religious  conceptions  leading  up  to  its  creations. 

In  the  Chinese  Journal  Shen  chou  kuo  kuang  tsi  (published  in  Shang- 
hai by  the  Shen  chou  kuo  kuang  she),  No.  4,  there  is  the  reproduction 
of  an  inscribed  tablet  of  jade  offered  in  928  a.  d.  to  the  dragon  of  the 
Great  Lake  {T'ai  hu)  by  Ts'ien  Liu,  king  of  Wu;  this  tablet  had  been 
found  by  a fisherman  in  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736-1795).  Other 
known  tablets  of  this  kind  are  one  of  bronze  dated  738  a.  d.,  one  of 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


189 


silver  originating  from  Ts'icn  Liu,  and  perhaps  another  jade  tablet 
likewise  due  to  the  latter.  Similar  offerings  of  the  Sung  and  Yuan 
periods  are  known  only  from  literary  and  epigraphical  records,  but  no 
actual  specimen  of  those  times  has  survived  (compare  Pelliot,  Bulletin 
de  I’Ecole  franqaise  d' Rxtreme-Orienl,  Vol.  IX,  1909,  p.  576).  It  there- 
fore seems  that  the  jade  image  of  the  dragon  remained  restricted 
to  the  Han  period  and  was  substituted  at  later  ages  by  prayers  in- 
scribed on  jade  or  metal  tablets.  A survival  of  the  ancient  custom  may 
be  seen  in  the  large  paj^er  or  papier-mache  figures  of  dragons  carried 
around  in  the  streets  by  festival  processions  in  times  of  drought  to 
insure  the  benefit  of  rain. 


VI.  JADE  COINS  AND  SEALS 


In  ancient  China,  jade  took  also  the  place  of  valuable  money,' 
and  was  occasionally  also  turned  into  coinage.  We  remember  the 
statement  of  Pan  Ku  that  jade  disks  were  given  away  as  a stimulus  to 
scholars  and  statesmen,  if  their  services  were  demanded  by  a particular 
state  (p.  154).  Kuan-tse,  the  minister  of  Huan,  duke  of  Ts'i  (b.  c. 
693-642),  speaks  in  his  book  on  political  economy  of  the  trade  then 
existing  between  the  different  parts  of  China  and  the  outside  countries, 
mentioning  jade,  gold  and  pearls  as  objects  of  barter.  The  former 
kings,  he  says,  because  these  things  came  from  afar  and  were  obtained 
with  difficulty,  made  use  of  them  according  to  the  respective  value  of 
each,  pearls  and  jade  being  estimated  highest,  gold  placed  in  the  second 
class,  knife  money  and  spade-shaped  coins  ranging  in  the  lowest  class.'' 

A jade  coin  is  illustrated  on  Plate  XXVII,  Fig.  i.  Tt  is  a combina- 
tion of  the  round  cash  type  and  the  so-called  knife  on  which  the  back 
is  marked  by  two  parallel  incised  lines;  the  blade  is  broad  and  blunt, 
is  running  in  a curve,  and  pointed  below.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the 
hole  is  round,  and  not  square  as  in  the  copper  coins. 

The  four  characters  on  the  obverse  read  ta  ts'iian  wu  shih,  “Great 
money,  fifty.” 

On  the  reverse,  the  symbols  of  sun  and  moon  are  engraved,  the  sun 
in  the  shape  of  a circle  above  the  hole,  and  the  moon  as  a crescent 
below  it. 

The  coin  is  cut  out  of  a pure-white  jade,  7 cm  long,  3-4  mm  thick; 
the  diameter  of  the  disk  being  2. 5- 2. 7 cm.  This  coin  originated  from 
Wang  Mang,  the  Usurper  (9-13  a.  d.).  The  same  legend  as  above  is 
found  on  a common  copper  coin  with  square  hole  and  without  the 
knife-handle,  on  the  reverse  of  which  the  figuies  of  the  sun,  moon  and 
the  dipper  are  shown;  in  another  type  it  is  Ursa  major,  a two-edged 
^ sword  and  a tortoise  with  a snake  (see  Kin-shih  so,  kin  so,  Vol.  4). 
This  jade  coin  is  of  the  same  style  as  the  copper  coins  of  the  usurper 
Wang  Mang.  The  identity  of  the  types  will  be  recognized  from  Figs. 
2 and  3 of  the  same  Plate.  On  the  circular  portion  in  Fig.  2 the  two 
characters  i tao  “one  knife”  are  inlaid  with  gold.  On  the  handle  or 
knife-part,  three  characters  are  cast  in  high  relief,  reading  p'ing  wu 

* For  analogous  examples  see  H.  Schurtz,  Grundriss  einer  Entstehungsgeschichte 
des  Geldes,  p.  107.  Weimar,  1898. 

’Compare  Bushell  in  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  23,  and  J.  Edki.n's  in  Nature,  1884, 
p.  516. 

190 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XXVI I. 

Jade  Knife-Coin  of  Wang  Mang. 

Figs.  2-3.  Copper  Knife-Coins  of  Wang  Mang. 
Figs.  4-5.  Jade  Seals. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXVII. 


2 

Coins  and  Seals. 


Feb.,  1QI2. 


Jade. 


191 


ts'ien,  “weighing  five-thousand.”  The  reverse  is  blank.  The  coin 
in  Fig.  3 bears  on  the  obverse  the  two  characters  ch'ih  tao,  “contract 
knife”  in  slight  relief,  and  on  the  knife  the  two  characters  wu  pai 
“five  hundred,”  while  the  reverse  is  also  blank. ‘ 

It  will  be  noticed  that  a raised  rim  borders  the  entire  coin  and  also 
the  square  hole. 

While  there  is  in  general  no  marked  difference  between  the  jade  and 
bronze  types  of  this  coin,  an  essential  variation  remains  in  the  circular 
and  square  perforations.  It  may  be  appropriate  to  recall  here  the 
theory  of  L.  C.  Hopkins^  according  to  which  the  cash  is  a mere  reproduc- 
tion in  metal  of  the  emblematic  perforated  jade  disk  pi.  This  view 
finds  a certain  support  in  the  statement  made  in  K'ang-hi’s  Dictionary 
that  the  first  metal  coins  were  shaped  like  these  pi;  but  the  form  of  the 
perforation  is  passed  over  vdth  silence,  and  as,  in  view  of  Chinese 
geometric  symbolism,  a strong  contrast  must  be  supposed  to  exist 
between  a . round  and  a square  hole,  this  important  point  is  left  un- 
explained by  the  theory  of  Hopkins.  The  combination  of  the  cash 
with  the  knife  underlying  our  specimen  certainly  was  only  a personal 
whim  of  the  fantastic  Wang  Mang;  we  may  cut  out  the  knife,  and  then 
we  ha\-e  a jade  cash  with  a round  hole,  and  such  seems  to  have  really 
existed  in  times  before  Wang  Mang.  It  seems  possible  and  plausible 
that  this  coin  may  have  sprung  from  the  jade  disk  pi  with  which  it 
agrees  except  in  dimension.  A square  perforation  has  not  yet  been 
found  in  a pi,  but  the  Po  hii  t'ung  mentions  pi  with  a square  inside, 
without  saying,  however,  that  this  square  was  a perforation  (see  above 
p.  154).  The  square  would  indicate  Earth  in  Chinese  sentiment, 
but  the  Chinese  have  left  to  us  no  explanation  as  to  why  the  holes  of 
their  coins  have  always  been  made  square. 

In  the  numismatical  work  Kin  ting  ts'ien  lu  (Ch.  i,  p.  i b)  a square 
metal  coin  rounded  off  at  the  comers  with  a round  hole  is  engraved 
(F'ig.  94)  with  the  statement  that  it  was  issued  by  the  legendary 
Emperor  Shdn-nung,  the  round  hole  being  looked  upon  as  a special 
characteristic  of  this  type.  While  we  need  not  accept  the  association 
of  this  coin  with  Shen-nung  or  any  period  of  a similar  antiquity,  I 

' The  Wang  Mang  coins  are  still  highly  appreciated  by  Chinese  collectors  and 
bring  good  prices  according  to  the  scarcity  of  the  single  types.  The  following 

price-list  has  been  quoted  to  me  in  Si-ngan  fu  as  the  present  standard  of  valuation; 

Wang  Mang  1000  cash  =200  cash  (about  S0.12). 

“ “ 200,  300,  400,  600  cai/i  =4  Taels  each  (about  S2. 40). 

“ “ 500  and  5000  ca5/j  =6  Taels  each  (about  S3. 60). 

“ “ 700,  800,  900  cash=  15  Taels  each  (about  S9.00). 

“ “ 40  coi/t  = 50  Taels  each  (about  S30. 00). 

A piece  of  the  last  type  is  in  the  collection  of  H.  E.  Tuan  Fang. 

®The  Origin  and  Earlier  History  of  the  Chinese  Coinage  {Journal  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  1895,  p.  330). 


192  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

have  no  doubt  that  this  example  presents  a very  ancient  coin,  perhaps 
of  the  Chou  period,  being  an  older  type  than  the  circular  coins  with 
square  hole. 

It  is  curious  that  also  the  first  copper  coin  of  Japan  is  said  to  be  a 
piece  quite  plain,  circular  in  shape  and  having  a round  (rather  ellip- 
soidal) hole  in  the  centre.  “ Illustrations  of  this  coin  are  found  in  nearly 
every  old  book  treating  on  coins,”  remarks  van  de  Polder,^  “and  it 

is  always  stated  to  have  been  struck  in  the 
time  of  Mombu  Tenno  (697-709  a.  d.);  but 
it  is  impossible  to  find  out  either  the  exact 
date  or  its  size  and  weight.” 

Aside  from  the  jade  coin  of  Wang  Mang, 
there  is  another  report  relative  to  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Wu  (265-285  a.  d.)  of  the 
Tsin  dynasty,  who  received  from  the  country 
of  Yin-k'in  in  the  northern  part  of  Turkistan 
a thousand  strings  of  jade  coins  shaped  like 
rings,  each  ring  weighing  ten  ounces  and  bear- 
ing on  the  obverse  the  inscription:  T'ien 

shoti  yung  ki,  “May  you  live  as  long  as  Heaven  and  eternally 
prosper!” 

The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'li  exhibits  a large  series  of  jade  coins  and  medals  in 
which  little  or  no  confidence  can  be  placed. 

Two  jade  seals  are  shown  on  Plate  XXVH,  Figs.  4 and  5.  The 
one  in  Fig.  4 carved  from  grayish -green  jade  filled  on  all  sides  with  some 
clayish  substance  is  a private  seal  of  the  Han  period  bearing  on  the 
lower  face  the  name  of  the  owner  Ngan  Yi  (Giles,  Nos.  44  and  5397). 
The  upper  part  of  the  seal  is  perforated,  so  that  it  could  be  suspended 
from  the  girdle.  The  other  seal  in  Fig.  5,  though  car\'cd  from  jade  of 
the  Han  period  (a  plant-green  brown  and  red-mottled  jade),  is  a recent 
work,  and  presumably  not  older  than  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736- 
1795).  The  serpent-like  coiled  dragon  carved  in  high  relief  on  the  top 
is  in  the  style  of  the  Han  jjeriod;  there  is  no  name  engraved  on  the 
lower  face.  The  usual  material  for  seals  in  China  is  copper  or  bronze, 
and,  as  there  is  an  extensive  number  of  such  metal  seals  in  our  collec- 
tion, comprising  the  jjeriods  of  the  Ts'in,  Han,  San  kuo,  T'ang,  Sung 
and  Yiian,  including  also  a series  of  ancient  clay  .seals,  there  will  be 
occasion  to  revert  to  this  subject.^  The  shapes  and  designs  of  the 

'Abridged  History  of  the  Copper  Coins  of  Japan  (Transactions  of  the,  Asiatic 
Society  of  Japan,  V'ol.  XIX,  p.  427,  1R91). 

^ An  exposition  of  the  imperial  and  official  seals  and  their  functions  will  be  found 
in  P.  IloANt.,  Mdlangcs  sur  I'administration,  pp.  57  et  seq.,  Shanghai,  1902. 


' Fig.  94. 

Ancient  Metal  Coin  with  Round 
Perforation  (from  Kin 
ting  ts'ifn  /«). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


193 


jade  seals  do  not  differ  from  those  of  the  metal  ones; in  fact,  they  are 
derived  from  them  so  that  they  must  be  treated  in  connection  with 
this  subject.  Wu  Ta-ch'#ng  has  figured  also  a number  of  interesting 
jade  seals  of  the  Mongol  period  engraved  with  Tibetan  and  Mongol 
characters,  the  latter  of  the  so-called  “square”  form  (P'ags-pa)  which 
I shall  deal  with  in  another  place. 


I 


VII.  PERSONAL  ORNAMENTS  OF  JADE 


This  subject  is  vast  and  complex,  t)ut  I have  attempted  to  treat  it 
as  comprehensively  as  possible,  as  far  as  the  present  state  of  our  knowl- 
edge permits.  Stress  is  naturally  laid  on  the  ornaments  used  in  the 
earliest  times  of  Chinese  antiquity;  without  arriving  at  an  adequate 
understanding  of  these,  we  cannot  hope,  either,  to  appreciate  those  of 
the  present  age.  Personal  ornaments  always  exercised  a deep  influence 
upon  social  life,  being  full  of  hidden  emblematic  significance  and 
speaking  a language  of  their  own  understood  by  the  donor  and  the 
wearer.  Their  shapes  and  their  designs  are  living  realities.  In  their 
execution,  the  Chinese  genius  shows  at  its  best  and  rivals  that  of  the 
greatest  lapidaries  of  all  ages.  Neither  the  cut  gems  of  Greece  nor  the 
much  praised  Netsuke  of  Japan  come  up  to  the  ideal  standard  of  these 
humble  carvers,  their  refinement  of  taste,  their  vigor  and  elegance  of 
design,  their  zest  for  linear  beauty,  and  their  almost  superhuman 
mastery  of  the  tough  stone  material  wdth  their  crude  implements. 
With  all  our  progress  in  technical  matters,  we  often  stand  in  bewilder- 
ment before  these  gems,  puzzled  as  to  how  they  did  it.  A rich  source 
of  instruction  may  open  up  here  also  for  our  art-designers  and  crafts- 
men who  are  desirous  of  forsaking  the  old  ruts  and  of  receiving  a new 
stimulus.  The  ethnological  and  art-historical  importance  of  this 
material  cannot  be  overvalued:  it  is  a sort  of  object-lesson  for  the 
study  of  decorative  forms  and  designs. 


I.  The  Girdle-Pendant 

Jade  pieces  were  w'orn  as  girdle-ornaments  in  most  ancient  times* 
and  the  w'earers  rejoiced  in  their  tinkling  and  clattering  w’hile  w'alk- 
ing,  and  imagined  they  heard  real  musical  tones  produced  by  these. 
“The  gentlemen  in  times  of  antiquity,”  says  the  Li  ki  {Yil  tsao  III,  6) 
“were  sure  to  w'ear  jades  suspended  from  the  girdle.  Those  on  the 
right  side  emitted  the  notes  Ckih  and  Kio  (the  fourth  and  third  notes 
of  the  Chinese  gammut),  and  those  on  the  left  gave  the  notes  Kung 
and  Vu  (the  first  and  fifth  notes  of  the  gammut).”  This  was,  so  to 
speak,  the  accompaniment  to  music  actually  played;  for  certain  tunes 
were  performed  in  connection  with  the  emperor’s  walks,  and  in  all 
his  movements,  the  pieces  of  jade  sounded  their  tinklings.  So  also 
the  gentleman,  when  in  his  carriage,  heard  the  harmonious  sounds  of 
its  bells;  and  when  walking,  those  of  his  jiendent  jades;  and  in  this 

194 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


195 


way  evil  and  depraved  thoughts  found  no  entrance  into  his  mind. 
Jade  here  appears  as  the  embodiment  of  excellent  qualities  and  in- 
stilling virtue  into  the  heart  of  its  owner. ‘ Its  musical  qualities  caused 
a joyful  disposition,  which  may  have  led  to  the  observance  of  laj’ing 
the  pendants  aside  during  the  time  of  mourning,  while  otherwise 
they  were  obligatory  (I'm  Isao  III,  8). 

Special  regulations  were  mapped  out  for  the  heir-apjjarent.  “When 
in  the  presence  of  his  father,  he  was  not  allowed  to  let  his  girdle- jades 
hang  down  freely  nor  to  have  them  sound.  Therefore,  to  prevent 
this,  he  tied  them  together  on  his  left  side,  while  he  wore  on  his  right 
side  the  usual  instruments  destined  for  the  girdle.  In  his  private 
apartments,  he  allowed  his  girdle-ornaments  to  hang  down  as  usually, 
but  at  court,  he  tied  them  up.  When  an  official  purified  himself  by 
fasting,  he  took  the  girdle-ornaments,  but  tied  them  up.”  (I’m  tsao 
III,  j.y  The  tinkling  of  the  jades  as  an  occasion  of  joy  had  to  give 
way  to  the  respect  for  the  emperor,  and  during  the  religious  act  of 
abstinence.  In  all  other  cases,  it  was  a kind  of  moral  obligation  to 
wear  the  girdle-jades,  for  “a  gentleman,  without  special  reason,  never 
took  the  jade  off  from  his  body,  regarding  it  as  emblematie  of  virtuous 
qualities”  {Ibid.,  Ill,  8 ). 

In  a song  of  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  102),  a royal  lady  of  the 
house  of  Wei,  married  in  another  state,  expresses  a longing  for  her 
former  home  and  the  scenes  of  her  youth  where  she  could  freely  ramble 
with  her  companions,  in  elegant  dress  and  happy  chats.  And  she 
remembers  in  her  sorrow  the  girdle  gems  of  her  friends,  how  they 
moved  to  their  measured  steps!  In  another  song  (Legge,  Vol.  I, 
p.  198)  in  praise  of  a king,  his  subjects  enjoy  hearing  the  jades  at  his 
girdle  emit  their  tinkling,  suggestive  to  them  of  wishing  him  long  life. 
The  joy  over  the  suecess  of  a victorious  general  is  described  by  the 
tinkling  of  the  bells  of  his  horses  and  the  sounding  of  the  gems  of 
his  girdle-pendants  (Legge,  Vol.  II,  p.  286). 

It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  the  jade  pieces  used  for  girdle-orna- 
ments were  strung  on  silk  threads  or  sew'ed  on  to  silk  bands  as  appliqud 
work.  In  the  colors  of  the  silk,®  and  in  the  kinds  and  qualities  of  jade 

* In  a song  of  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  136)  the  beauty  of  a lady  is  praised 
which  is  heightened  by  the  fine  gems  of  her  girdle-pendant  appearing  as  she  moves  in 
her  carriage.  And  the  gems  of  her  girdle-pendant  tinkle.  So  far  Legge.  But  I 
understand  the  text  in  the  sense  that  both  the  man  and  the  lady  wear  the  tinkling 
girdle-pendants,  and  that  the  last  verse  ti  yin  pu  wang  does  not  merely  mean  “his 
virtuous  fame  is  not  to  be  forgotten.”  Te  yin  is  the  voice  of  his  virtue  sounded  by 
his  tinkling  jades  which  those  cannot  forget  who  had  occasion  to  hear  them. 

®Legge’s  translation  is  here  hardly  correct,  and  I prefer  to  follow  Couvreur. 

’ I omit  the  color-names  of  the  silks,  as  they  cannot  be  adequately  translated. 
Those  who  will  compare  Legge's  and  Couvreur’s  translations,  will  notice  their 
discrepancies  in  this  regard. 


196  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

there  were  in  the  Chou  period  five  gradations  according  to  rank. 
White  jade  considered  the  most  precious  was  the  privileged  ornament 
of  the  emperor;  jade  green  like  the  mountains  was  reserved  for  the 
princes  of  the  first  and  second  ranks  {kung  hou);  water-blue  jade  was 
for  the  great  prefects  {tai  fu) ; the  heir-apparent  had  a special  kind  of 
jade  called  yii  assigned  to  him;  and  a plain  official  had  to  be  content 
with  a stone  inferior  to  jade  called  juan  min  (presumably  prehnite) 
(I'm  Isao^  III,  9). 

In  a beautiful  song  of  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  134),  suggestive 
of  a pleasant  picture  of  domestic  life,  a wife  expresses  her  affection  foi 
her  husband  and  encourages  him  to  cultivate  friendships  with  men  of 
worth  to  whom  she  would  offer  jewels  for  the  girdle  out  of  regard  for 
him.*  “When  I know  those  whose  acquaintance  you  wish,  I will 
give  them  various  girdle-ornaments.  When  I know  those  with  whom 
you  are  cordial,  I will  send  to  them  various  girdle-ornaments.  When 
I know  those  whom  you  love,  I will  repay  their  friendship  (or  thank 
them)  by -gifts  of  girdle-ornaments.”  We  see  that  presents  of  such 
ornaments  were  jirompted  by  a feeling  of  amity  and  by  a desire  to  keep 
up  friendly  relations. 

It  is  an  irreparable  loss  that  the  proper  significance  of  many  words 
designating  either  particular  kinds  of  jade  or  ornaments  of  jade  and 
occurring  in  the  Shi  king  and  other  ancient  texts  is  entirely  unknown; 
the  commentators  are  too  easily  satisfied  in  explaining  them  as  a 
beautiful  jade  or  an  ornament.  If  we  had  fuller  definitions  of  them, 
we  could  make  much  more  out  of  the  symibolism  which  was  probably 
associated  with  them.  Thus,  e.  g.  in  a little  song  of  the  Shi  king  (Legge, 
\'ol.  I,  p.  203)  Duke  K'ang  escorts  his  cousin  of  whom  he  was  very  fond, 
and  gives  him  k'iung-kuei  stones  for  his  girdle  as  a parting  gift;  the 
translation  “precious  jasper”  in  this  passage  is  a poor  makeshift, 
for  it  is  doubtless  the  question  here  of  a specific  ornament  wdth  a hidden 
meaning  suitable  to  the  occasion,  which,  however,  is  unfortunately  lost. 

In  discussing  the  single  jewels  composing  the  girdle-pendant,  we 
shall  notice  how  deeply  they  are  related  to  friendship  and  love  by 
means  of  punning  upon  the  words  used  to  designate  them  (so-called 
phonetic  rebus).  Here  we  speak  of  the  significance  of  the  girdle-orna- 
ments in  general.  They  were  an  object  of  mutual  attraction  between 
the  two  sexes  and  naturally  played  a role  in  sexual  imagination,  as 
the  desire  to  please  the  other  sex  is  the  keynote  of  all  primitive  orna- 

do  not  understand  the  passage  with  Legge  that  “she  would  despoil  herself 
of  her  feminine  ornaments  to  testify  her  regard  for  them  (*.  e.  her  husband’s  friends),’’ 
which,  even  granted  the  greater  freedom  enjoyed  by  woman  in  ancient  times,  would 
never  be  congruous  with  Chinese  customs.  The  text  implies  only  that  she  would 
gladly  give  any  girdle  appendages  (not  her  own)  as  gifts  to  his  friends,  out  of  respect 
for,  or  to  please,  her  husband. 


Jade. 


197 


Feb.,  1912. 


merit.  “O  you  with  the  girdle-gems  strung  on  blue  silken  bands, 
long,  long  do  I think  of  you;  I cannot  go  to  see  you,  but  why  do  you 
not  come  to  me?”  laments  a young  lady  mourning  the  indifference 
and  the  absence  of  her  lover,  in  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  144)- 

In  the  Po  hu  t'nng  (Ch.  4,  p.  4)*  by  Pan  Ku  (f  92  a.  d.)  it  is  on 
record:  “The  girdle-ornaments  s\Tnbolized  the  respective  occupations 
of  people:  the  fanners  wore  girdle-ornaments  in  the  shape  of  their 
plough-handles  and  shares;  workmen  those  in  the  shape  of  axes  and 
adzes;  married  women  wore  their  needles  and  pins  in  the  girdles  to 
make  known  thereby  that  they  were  married  women,  but  they  sus- 
pended also  jade  objects  from  the  girdle.”  This  passage  is  interesting 
in  showing  that  among  the  people  girdle-ornaments  indicated  also  their 
callings.  We  thus  recognize  altogether  a fourfold  SN-mbolism  associated 
with  them  during  the  Chou  period:  rhythmical  movement  and  sonorous 
qualities  enjoyed  by  the  wearer  and  impressing  his  fellow-mates  their 
character  as  trinkets  of  friendship  and  love;  their  indication  of  rank 
among  the  official  class  according'to  the  material;  and  their  character 
emblematic  of  the  vocation  among  the  people  at  large. 

The  general  arrangement  of  this  ancient  girdle-pendant  may  be 
gathered  from  Fig.  95  derived  from  the  Ku  yii  t u p u (Ch.  53)’ 
though  not  correct  in  details,  and  nothing  more  than  an  attempt  at 
reconstruction,  yet  it  may  give  a fair  idea  of  what  the  conception  of 
the  Chinese  archccologists  in  regard  to  the  appearance  and  disposition 
of  the  single  ornaments  is;  for  no  complete  sets  have  survived,  only 
single  components,  and  as  we  shall  have  to  discuss  a number  of  these, 
the  wrong  impressions  gained  from  this  afterthought  of  the  Sung 
period  may  be  corrected.  We  notice  that  this  ancient  girdle-pendant 
is  a chatelaine  consisting  of  seven  separate  articles,  to  each  of  which  a 
special  name  is  assigned.  There  is  a top-piece  or  brooch  called  heng 
serving  as  the  support  from  which  the  six  other  ornamental  pieces  are 
suspended.  There  is  a circular  central  plaque  (yw)  surrounded  by  two 
square  ornaments  (^kii) ; below,  an  ornament  in  the  shape  of  a segment 
{ch'ung  ya)  in  the  center,  and  two  bow-shaped  ornaments  on  either 
side  (huang).  For  brevity’s  sake,  and  to  avoid  the  Chinese  names 
as  much  as  possible,  my  nomenclature  will  simply  be:  head-piece, 
central  piece,  lower  piece,  central  side-pieces,  lower  side-pieces. 

In  the  ancient  songs  of  the  Shi  king  {Wei  f hi g,  X;  Legge,  Vol.  I, 
p.  107),  there  is  a little  ditty  under  the  title  “The  Quince”  as  follows: 


‘ Reprinted  in  the  collection  Han  Wei  is'ung  shu. 

2 At  the  sacrifices  to  Heaven  and  Earth  during  the  Han  dynasty,  the  dancep 
singing  the  hymns  and  accompanying  them  with  a dance,  wore  ^so  girdle-pendants 
of  pearls  and  jade  to  chime  in  with  the  rhythm  of  the  music  (Chavannes,  Se-ma 
Ts'ien,  Vol.  HI,  pp.  613,  617.  621). 


igS  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

“Who  will  give  me  a quince,  I shall  return  to  him  a central  side- 
ornament  of  fine  jade  for  the  girdle-pendant.  It  is  not  meant  as  an 
act  of  thanks,  but  I want  to  render  our  friendship  ever-lasting. — Who 


Fig.  95. 

Complete  View  of  the  Ancient  Jade  Girdle-Pendant  (from  Ku  yu  I'u  p'u). 


will  give  me  a peach,  I shall  return  to  him  the  fed  jade  yao.  . . [with  the 
same  refrain]. — Who  will  give  me  a plum,  I shall  return  to  him  the 
black  jade  ornament  kiu  . . . [with  the  same  refrain].” 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


199 


A.  CoNRADY^  has  happily  recognized  in  the  two  words  kii  and  kiu 
the  foundation  of  a rebus:  the  former  contains  the  word  kii  “to  dwell, 
to  remain,”  the  latter  the  word  kiu  “long.”^  The  verses  from  the 
Shi  king  prove  that  these  stones  were  presented  as  tokens  of  a lasting 
friendship:  thus,  the  gift  of  the  jew’el  kii  may  have  implied  the  wish: 
“May  you  remain  my  friend!”  and  that  of  the  jewel  kiu:  “May  we 
long  be  friends!”  This  symbolism  of  the  gem  kiu  is  especially  notice- 
able in  the  pretty  song  “Hemp  grows  on  the  Hill”  (Legge,  Vol.  1, 
p.  122):  a maiden  is  longingly  awaiting  the  presence  of  her  lover  who 
she  imagines  may  be  detained  by  another  woman;  she  expects  that 
he  will  soon  appear  and  present  her  with  kiu  stones  for  her  girdle. 
Here  the  desire  for  this  ver\'  ornament  is  doubtless  of  symbolical 
meaning  too:  she  is  longing  for  the  long-stay -with-me  stone.  And 
the  gift  of  such  a stone  may  have  alluded  also  to  lasting  love.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  jewel  kii  seems  to  have  alluded  to  the  happy  union 
of  two  lovers  possessing  each  other,  as  may  be  inferred  from  Song  VII, 
9 (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  136)  where  the  couple  is  driving  in  the  carriage 
(note  the  word  t'ung  “together”)  and  wearing  the  girdle-ornament  kii 
as  emblem  of  their  communion. 

We  have  no  exact  information  in  regard  to  the  sj'mbolism  expressed 
by  the  arrangement  of  the  seven  jewels  in  the  girdle-pendant  of  the 
Chou.  But  the  names  assigned  to  them  allow  of  the  conclusion  that 
they  related  also  to  the  nature-cult  prevalent  in  that  period.  The 
name  heng  for  the  top-piece  appears  as  yii  heng  “the  regulator  of  jade” 
for  one  of  the  stars  in  the  Great  Bear,  or  for  the  three  stars  forming 
its  tail  (ScHLEGEL,  Uranographie  chinoise,  p.  503),  and  the  word 
huang  for  the  lower  side-piece  is  at  the  same  time  the  designation  for 
the  semicircular  jade  symbol  under  which  the  quarter  of  the  North 
was  worshipped  (p.  169).  In  short,  the  fundamental  idea  under- 
lying this  girdle-pendant  seems  to  be  associated  with  that  cosmological 
formula  of  six  terms,  the  basic  dogma  of  the  Chou  culture  pervading 
the  official  hierarchy,  the  astronomic  and  cosmic  system,  the  sacrificial 
rites,  the  religious  beliefs  and  the  interment  of  the  dead.^ 

We  shall  now  submit  the  single  parts  of  the  girdle-pendant  to  a 
closer  inspection.  The  head-piece  is  called  heng  (Giles  No.  3910), 
a word  identical  in  sound  with  and  supposed  to  be  derived  from  heng 

* In  the  preface  to  Stentz,  Beitrdge  zur  Volkskunde  Siid-Schanlung’s,  p.  10,  and 
China  in  Pflugk-Harttung’ s Weltgeschichle,  p.  51 1. 

*It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Chinese  have  a double  enjoyment  in  these 
puns,  by  the  ear  and  by  the  eye ; the  written  eharacter  eonveys  to  the  mind  as  much 
of  it  as  the  sound. 

’Compare  L.  de  Saussure,  Les  origines  de I’astronomie  chinoise  {T'oung  Pao, 
1910,  pp.  257  et  seg.). 


200 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


201 


(No.  3912)  “crosswise,  horizontal”  meaning  also  several  objects 
placed  in  such  a position  as  the  yoke  of  a draught  animal,  horse  or  ox, 
the  beam  of  a balance  or  steel-yard,  and  even  the  space  between  the 
eyebrows.  The  name  for  the  otnament  would  therefore  imply  that 
it  is  placed  transversely  to  serv'e  as  support  to  the  six  pendulous  jewels. 
An  ancient  commentator  remarks  that  it  resembles  in  shape  the  res- 
onant stone  k'ing,  but  is  smaller  than  this  one.  Wu  has  succeeded 
in  identifying  several  specimens  with  this  head-piece.  The  first  of 
these  is  shown  in  Fig.  96,  made  of  white  jade  with  russet  spots;  the 
second  in  Fig.  97,  of  green  jade  with  black  veins,  defined  as  ts'ung 
heng  “onion  head-piece”  in  allusion  to  a passage  in  the  Shi  king^ 
where  this  phrase  occurs.  The  word  “onion”  ceitainly  refers  to  the 
peculiar  green  tinge  of  the  jade,  and  Bushell  (in  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  26) 
correctly  explains  that  the  simile  relates  to  the  color  of  the  young 
sprouts,  not  to  the  bulb  of  the  onion,  the  name  corresponding  to  our 
“gra.ss  green. It  will  be  seen  that  these  two  pieces  are  perforated 
in  the  extreme  ends  for  purposes  of  suspension.  That  in  Fig.  98, 
likewise  “onion-green,”  has  two  perforations  in  one  end  and  one  in 
the  other.  These  three  objects  are  plain,  while  that  in  Fig.  99  is 
decorated,  the  two  hanging  tips  terminating  in  dragon-heads;  it  is  of 
white  jade  spotted  all  over  with  red  patches  except  the  two  dragon- 
heads which  are  pure-white. 

In  connection  with  the  head-piece  we  deal  also  with  the  lower  side- 
pieces  of  the  girdle-pendant,  because  they  much  resemble  the  top- 
piece,  as  may  be  gathered  from  Fig.  100.  In  Fig.  loi,  an  ornamented 
piece  of  this  type  in  green  jade  is  shown,  displaying  two  dragons  with 
bodies  intertwined.  A Chinese  commentator  remarks  that,  if  the  two 
pieces  forming  a pair  are  placed  together,  they  make  the  perforated 
disk  called  pi,  and  maybe  this  ornament  has  originated  in  this  way 
by  cutting  a disk  into  halves,  from  a purely  technical  viewpoint. 
It  will  be  seen  that  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
the  head-piece  and  these  lower  side-pieces,  particularly  when  they  are 
undecorated.  It  seems  that  the  only  real  difference  between  the  two, 
in  the  latter  case,  lies  in  their  dimensions,  the  head-piece  being  of 
larger  size.  A specimen  in  our  collection  may  be  identified  with 
one  of  these  types. 

The  objects  united  on  Plate  XXVIII  are  all  burial  jades  of  the 
Han  period,  not  amulets,  however,  to  preserve  the  body  from  decay, 
but  personal  ornaments  of  the  dead,  ornaments  which  a person  had 

^ Siao  ya,  T'ung  kung,  IV,  2 (Legge,  V'’o1.  II,  p.  286;  ed.  Couvreur,  p.  205). 

’ Wu  Ta-ch’^ng  explains  this  color  by  the  two  words  ts'ang  tsui  “sky-blue  and 
kingfisher-blue.” 


202  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

presumably  worn  cluiing  life-time  and  cherished,  and  which  he  there- 
fore desired  to  have  buried  with  him. 

The  piece  in  Fig.  i (9  cm  long,  2.9  cm  udde  and  3 mm  thick)  of 
this  Plate  is  a grass-green  jade  full  of  earth  incrustations,  unorna- 
mented, in  the  shape  of  a crescent.  The  two  perforations  at  the  ends 
have  been  bored  only  from  one  side  where  they  measure  5 mm  in  diam- 
eter, while  it  is  only  3 mm  on  the  lower  side.  The  lower  edge  has  been 
much  affected  and  somewhat  weathered  out  by  chemical  influences 


Fig.  ioo. 


Fig.  ioi. 

Jade  Lower  Side-Pieces  of  Girdle-Pendant. 


which  seem  to  have  also  darkened  the  original  color  in  some  places. 
In  color,  this  specimen  agrees  with  those  designated  by  \Vu  as  onion- 
green  and  in  form  with  that  in  Fig.  100,  explained  by  him  as  a lower 
side-piece  of  a girdle-pendant,  and  I feel  therefore  justified  in  applying 
the  same  identification  to  our  specimen.  The  jade  ornament  pub- 
lished in  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  Bulletin  (Vol.  VI,  p.  55,  1908) 
must  be  reckoned,  in  my  opinion,  as  belonging  to  the  same  class. 

Figures  102  and  103  are  head-pieces  of  girdle-pendants  illustrated 
in  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u,  alleged  to  be  Han,  but  in  all  likelihood  not  older 
than  the  T'ang  period,  especially  the  design  in  Fig.  103,  an  inverted 
lotus-leaf  with  tumed-up  edges. ‘ But  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  has  well 

* Pictorial  influence  is  manifest  in  it  and  admitted  in  the  Chinese  text  by  the 
words:  “ It  is  refined  and  sublime  like  painting.” 


i 

I' 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XXVIII. 


Fig.  I.  Lower  Side-Piece  of  a Girdle-Pendant. 

Fig.  2.  Half-Ring  kiieh. 

Figs.  3-4.  Axe-Shaped  Girdle-Ornaments. 

Fig.  5.  Girdle-Ornament  in  Shape  of  Fungus  of  Immortality. 
Fig.  6.  Ornament  for  Scabbard. 

Fig.  7.  Archer’s  Thumb-Ring. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXVIII. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


203 


descn’ed  of  us  in  transmitting  another  type  of  chatelaine  in  Fig.  104 
with  the  remark  that  it  is  “a  devil’s  work  (i.  e.  very  clever  work)  from 
Turkistan.”  The  chains  wdth  their  links  carved  from  one  piece  of 
jade  are  remarkable;  the  same  kind  of  work  may  be  seen  in  one  of  out 
jade  resonant  stones  (Plate  LVII).  Ten  of  these  chains  terminate 
in  tiny  jade  bells.  This  is,  of  course,  a special  type  of  chatelaine  being 


-h- 

JL 

Jade  Head-Piece  of  Girdle-Pendant  (from  Ku  yU  t'u  p'li). 


Fig.  103. 

Jade  Head-Piece  of  Girdle-Pendant  in  Shape  of  Lotus-Leaf 
(from  Ku  yu  t*u  p'u). 


in  no  historical  connection  with  the  ancient  Chinese  girdle-pendant. 
The  editors  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  are,  in  this  case,  quite  honest  and 
confess  that  the  age  of  this  piece  is  not  known.  I believe  we  shall 
not  err  in  assigning  it  to  the  T'ang  period,  since  at  that  time  there 
was  lively  intercourse  between  China  and  Turkistan,  and  the  trade 
in  jade  from  Khotan  to  China  was  at  its  height.  Besides,  this  speci- 
men is  of  great  historical  value,  as  it  seems  to  be  the  father  of  these 
modern  silver  chatelaines^  current  all  over  China,  Tibet  and  Mongolia, 
and  usually  consisting  of  five  pieces, — toothpick,  tweezers,  earspoon, 
small  brush  for  oiling  the  hair  and  boar’s  tooth  for  parting  the  hair, 

‘Numerous  varieties  from  China  and  Tibet  are  in  our  collection.  See  Fig.  107 
in  Bushell,  Chinese  Art,  Vol.  II. 


^ ^ ^ 


204  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


scratching  the  head  or  loosening  knots.*  If  we  realize  the  jade  speci- 
men in  Fig.  104  with  the  chains  made  in  silver  and  with  these  five  im- 
plements attached  to  the  ends  of  the  five  lower  chains,  we  have  the 
whole  affair  as  still  in  use.  And  we  may  imagine  that  also  at  an  early 


Fig.  104. 

Jade  Chatelaine  from  Turkistan  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  P*u). 


date  they  wen;  commonly  made  of  silver  and  but  rarely  of  jade.  I 
was  hitherto  under  the  impression  that  this  silver  chatelaine  may  be 
Chinese  in  origin,  but  the  evidence  furnished  above  might  lead  one 

' In  the  Chinese  specimens,  the  two  latter  objects  are  replaced  by  a miniature 
sword  and  halberd  or  some  other  kind  of  weapon.  The  tradition  of  the  Turkistan 
prototype  is  also  preserved  in  tiny  silver  bells  suspended  from  chains  in  many  of 
these  chatelaines. 


F£B.,  1912. 


Jade. 


205 


2o6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

to  suspect  that  it  belongs  to  the  Turkish -Tibetan  culture-sphere.* 
Indeed,  many  Tibetan  specimens  of  this  kind  have  an  originality  of 
design  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  Chinese  counterparts.  At  all  events, 
it  is  certain  that  in  ancient  times  the  Chinese  did  not  avail  themselves 
of  similar  chatelaines  which  seem  to  spring  up  among  them  not  earlier 
than  in  the  T'ang  period. 

Of  the  central  pieces  of  the  girdle-pendant,  only  a few  have  sur- 
vived. The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  is  able  to  reproduce  only  two  (Figs.  105  and 
106).  The  one  in  Fig.  105  with  a meander  pattern  in  the  outer  zone 
and  a floral  design  in  the  centre  explained  as  “banana-leaves  fulfilling 
every  wish”  {ju  i Isiao  yeh)  is  made  a work  of  the  Han  or  Wei  period; 
the  other  in  Fig.  106  wth  a band  of  wave-omaments  {yen  po  wen)  and 
a star-shaped  leaf-pattern  is  alleged  to  be  pre-Han. 

Two  of  the  central  side-pieces  (kii)  used  in  the  girdle-pendant  may 
be  viewed  in  Figs.  107  and  108,  both  ascribed  to  the  Han  time  which  is 
possible.  The  names  given  by  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  for  the  ornaments 
are  interesting.  The  eight  groups  of  quadruple  “square”  spirals  are 
styled  iieh  sheng,  i.e.  accumulated,  superposed  or  repeated  ornaments, 
the  woid  sheng  denoting  an  ornament  in  a woman’s  hair -dressing.^ 
Fig.  108,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  Chinese  legend,  is  labeled  wei  kio 
liao  “carved  with  the  corners  cut  out”  alluding  to  the  four  chamfered 
comers.  The  four  plant  designs  in  the  interior  are  designated  as 
“mallows;”  the  entire  pattern  is  stated  to  be  “of  such  elegance  that 
there  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  an  object  of  the  Han.”  This  elegance 
of  the  art  of  the  Han  is  frequently  insisted  on  by  these  authors,  and 
they  are  certainly  right  in  their  judgment. 

Figure  109  represents  a lower  central  jewel  {ch'ungya)  used  in  the 
girdle-pendant,  derived  from  the  same  work.  It  is  segment-shaped 
as  in  Fig.  95,  and  decorated  with  designs  of  “sleeping  silkworm-co- 
coons {wo  Isan)  and  beads  {lien  chu),”  a design  “breathing  the  spirit 
of  Han  work.”  The  Sung  Catalogue  gives,  further,  this  ornament 
without  any  decoration. 

^^’e  are  not  bound  to  assume  that  all  the  ancient  girdle-pendants 
looked  like  the  typical  one  in  Fig.  95  which  is  nothing  more  than  an 
attempted  reconstmetion  of  the  Sung  period.  There  is,  in  fact,  no 

‘The  type  of  these  pendants  is  widely  disseminated  and  occurs  among  the 
antiquities  of  Siberia  and  the  Finno-Ugrians.  A striking  analogy  to  the  ancient  jade 
type  of  Turkistan  is  offered  by  silver  types  found  in  tombs  near  Kasan  (see  De 
UjFALVY,  Expedition  scientifique  en  Kussie,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  151,  and  Vol.  VI,  PI.  XXIII). 

“In  modern  Peking  ornaments  occurs  the  fang  shing,  a geometrical  figure  con- 
sisting of  two  overlapping  squares,  employed  as  a rebus  in  the  sense  of  “flourishing 
condition”  (Grube,  Zur  Pekinger  Volkskunde,  p.  147).  The  meaning  of  Iieh  sheng 
in  application  to  the  above  ornament  may,  accordingly,  have  been  “duplicated  or 
repeated  abundance ” or  “may  you  thrive  in  all  ways  and  directions  as  this.meander!  ’ 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


207 


EEa 


r 

~ • ••  — 

n li 

1 

1 

1 

Itgalfiigl 

1 

TcL^ 

1 

JESliSpi 

rr-iiiir® 

1 

I 

■pflifoi 

[iMlfejl 

i: 

Esjjipaii 

|i®J1(eS. 

f 

^Tirai]i 

1 

♦ 

ISailMJ  j 

i 

Fig.  107. 


Jf 


jSl 


IL 


'^1  cd|  [^1^ 


Fig.  108. 

Jade  Central  Side-Pieces  of  Girdle-Pendant 
(from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


» 


2o8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

ancient  text  by  which  the  arrangement  of  the  single  ornaments  in  the 
given  order  would  be  backed  up.  We  can  only  say  that  it  may  have 
been  so,  but  that  it  must  not  have  been  that  way.  The  connection 
of  the  single  articles  by  means  of  bead  laces  is  also  doubtful.  The 
verses  quoted  from  the  Shi  king  have  shown  us  that  there  were  other 
girdle-ornaments  like  the  yao  and  kiu  entering  the  girdle-pendants, 
but  which  are  not  known  to  the  archaeologists.  Further,  we  know 
from  literary  records  as  well  as  from  a large  number  of  specimens  which 


have  come  down  to  us  that  there  were  other  types  of  girdle-ornaments. 
Rings,  half-rings  and  miniature  imitations  of  implements  are  prom- 
inent in  this  group.  I may  first  be  allowed  to  review  the  material  in 
our  collection. 

Figure  2 of  Plate  XXVIII  is  of  a peculiar  jade  yellow  in  color  and 
spotted  brown  and  red;  in  shape  similar  to  Fig.  i on  the  same  Plate, 
but  not  perforated.  The  same  design  of  spirals  engraved  on  the 
upper  surface  appears  also  on  the  lower  face.  To  the  upper  edge, 
the  figure  of  a hydra  {ch'ih)  ^ is  attached  in  openwork  carving,  the 
whole  being  cut  out  of  one  stone.  It  is  7.2  cm  long,  2.3  cm  wide  and 
7 mm  thick.  This  object  belongs  to  the  type  of  half-rings  called 
kiieh  which  played  such  an  important  role  in  the  life  of  antiquity  on 
account  of  a peculiar  svTnbolism  attached  to  it  (see  p.  210). 

The  two  specimens  reproduced  in  their  original  size  in  Figs.  3 and 
4 of  the  same  Plate  are  most  remarkable  for  the  brilliancy  of  their 
technique;  they  are  both  ornamental  adzes  worn  as  girdle-pendants. 
The  piece  in  Fig.  3 is  a flat  candng  showing  exactly  the  same  designs 
and  colors  on  both  sides.  The  axe  itself  is  of  a grayish-white  color; 

* Chinese  explained  to  me  this  figure  as  a tiger,  but  I see  no  basis  for  this  suppo- 
sition. 


Feb.,  1912. 


209 


J.ADE. 

the  crane  forming  the  handle  gray-black;  its  beak  and  the  cloud-orna- 
ments on  its  left  surrounding  the  sun-ball  as  indicated  by  the  character 
ji  engraved  in  the  circle  are  yellow;  the  fungus  of  immortality  {ling 
chih)  on  which  the  crane  sets  one  of  its  feet,  and  the  tip  of  its  longest 
tail-feather  are  again  of  the  same  gray -white  color  as  the  axehcad. 
The  colors  are  by  no  means  artificial,  but  natural  in  the  stone,  and  it 
is  a source  of  astonishment  how  the  artist  planned  the  working  out 
of  the  rough  stone  into  this  harmonious  arrangement  of  colors.  The 
agreement  of  its  ornamentation  with  the  large  ornamental  axes  (p.  42) 
will  be  noticed;  the  blade  is  brought  out,  but  blunt. 

This  design  apparently  expresses  a wish  by  means  of  punning;  the 
word  ling  in  the  name  of  the  fungus  standing  for  another  ling  meaning 
“duration  of  life,”  ji  “the  sun”  meaning  also  “day,”  so  that  we  can 
read  the  sentence  hao  ling,  “May  your  days  be  long  like  those  of 
the  crane!”  The  crane,  as  well  known,  is  a symbol  of  longevity  (com- 
pare Grube,  Zur  Pekinger  Volkskunde.  p.  95). 

Figure  4 of  this  Plate  XXVIII  represents  a little  masterpiece  of 
carving.  Around  an  axehead  with  gracefully  sloping  blade,  as  nucleus, 
two  dragons  are  carved  out  in  open  work,  the  one  of  the  type  of  a 
hydra  resting  its  head  in  relief  on  the  surface  of  the  axe  and  winding 
its  body  elegantly  around  the  edge,  while  the  handle  is  formed  by  a 
coiled  dragon  in  hollowed-out  carving,  leaning  on  the  end  of  the  axe 
and  continued  on  the  lower  side  in  high  undercut  relief.  The  jade 
is  of  a dark  grayish-green  gradually  assuming  in  about  the  middle  a 
tinge  of  delicate  light-brown,  passing  into  a deep  chocolate  brown  in 
the  handle.  The  harmonious  proportion  of  all  parts,  the  clever  utiliza- 
tion of  the  coloration  in  the  stone  and  the  fine  execution  of  the  carvdng 
are  equally  worthy  of  admiration  in  these  two  pieces. 

In  Fig.  3,  we  recognized  the  crane  in  connection  with  the  fungus 
of  immortality  as  a sxTnbol  of  longevity.  In  Fig.  5 reproduced  in 
the  original  size  we  meet  with  a girdle-pendant  carved  in  the  shape 
of  a double  fungus  with  spiral  ornaments  engraved  in  the  surface; 
the  jade  is  gray  in  the  handle  and  upper  zone  and  light-brown  in  the 
lower  portion. 

This  fungus  is  a species  of  Agaric  and  considered  a felicitous  plant, 
because  it  absorbs  the  vapors  of  the  earth  (see  Bretschneider,  Bot- 
anicon  Sinicum,  Part  II,  p.  40  and  Part  III,  p.  480). 

In  the  Li  ki  (ed.  Couvreur,  Vol.  I,  p.  643),  it  is  mentioned  as  an 
edible  plant.  As  a marv^ellous  plant  foreboding  good  luck,  it  first 
appeared  under  the  Han  dynasty  in  b.  c.  109  when  it  sprouted  in  the 
imperial  palace  Kan-ts'uan.  The  emperor  issued  an  edict  announcing 
this  phenomenon  and  proclaimed  an  amnesty  in  the  empire  except 


2 10  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

for  relapsing  criminals.  A h\Tnn  in  honor  of  this  divine  plant  was 
composed  in  the  same  year  (Ciiavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  624;  J.  Edkins,  Journal  Peking  Oriental  Society,  Vol.  II,  p.  230). 
This  event  may  have  led  at  that  time  to  the  reception  of  this  fungus  as 
a motive  of  art  in  girdle-pendants.  Subsequently,  it  became  one  of  the 
magic  emblems  of  Taoism  and  a symbol  of  long  life.  We  shall  meet 
them  repeatedly  in  connection  with  this  design  of  the  fungus  on  later 
carvings  of  jade. 

The  jade  agarics  (vm  c/tih)  mentioned  in  the  year  748  a.  d.  as  “pro- 
duced on  the  pillars  of  the'Ta-t'ung  Palace  and  shining  through  the 
hall  wdth  magic  splendor”  (Hirtii,  Scraps  from  a Collector’s  Note 
Book,  p.  78)  were  perhaps  really  carved  from  jade,  although  the  word 
ch'an  “to  produce”  used  in  this  passage  would  seem  to  refer  to  a natural 
phenomenon  and  to  favor  the  view  expressed  by  Hirtii.  There  is 
indeed,  if  not  a real,  a fabulous  kind  of  agaric  called  yii  chih  and  sup- 
posed to  grow  on  the  sacred  mountain  Hua  shan  in  Shensi.  A special 
agaric  is  ascribed  to  each  of  the  four  sacred  mountains  with  the  addi- 
tion of  two  others,  making  six  kinds  altogether  (see  Bretsciineider, 
1.  c.,  Part  HI,  p.  418).  An  illustration  and  description  of  the  ling  chih 
is  given  by  G.  Sciilegel  in  T'oung  Pao,  Vol.  VI,  1895,  pp.  18-21. 

The  favorite  girdle-ornaments  were  doubtless  the  ring  and  the 
half-ring.  Iluan  (Giles  No.  5043)  “a  jade  ring”  is  written  with  the 
same  phonetic  and  pronounced  wdth  the  same  sound  as  htian  (No.  5047) 
“to  return,  to  repay.”  It  was  accordingly  the  symbol  by  which  the 
emperor  summoned  an  exiled  official  to  return,  or  the  signal  given  for 
besieging  a city  (on  account  of  the  word  huan  Nos.  5040  and  41  “an 
enclosing  wall”).*  In  making  such  a ring  over  to  a friend  as  a gift 
it  doubtless  meant  an  expression  of  thanks,^  or  implied  also  the  philo- 
sophical syTnbolism  underlying  the  ring, — all  divine  principles  being 
supposed  to  run  in  a ring  or  circle  without  beginning  or  end  (see  Giles 
No.  4862).  The  opposite  sense  is  connected  with  the  incomplete  or 
half-ring  kiieh  (Giles  No.  3222).  This  character  is  alternately  used 
with  the  word  kiieh  (No.  3219)  meaning  “to  cut  off,  to  slay;  to  pass 
sentence;  to  decide,  to  settle.”  Conrady  (/.  c.,  p.  9)  has  discovered 
the  oldest  authenticated  use  of  this  half-ring  in  the  tragic  case  of 
Prince  Sh^n-sheng  who  in  b.  c.  659  was  sent  by  his  father,  to  please  a 
concubine,  on  a fatal  war  expedition  and  received  from  him  a half- 
ring as  girdle-pendant,  signifying  that  he  was  cast  off  and  should  not 
return.  The  emperors  availed  themselves  pf  this  sjTnbol  in  banishing 

‘See  Conrady,  /.  c.,  p.  10. 

* As  proved  by  the  story  of  Yang  Pao  and  the  gold  bracelets  of  the  Chou  family 
(P£tillon,  Allusions  litt^raires,  p.  250). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


21 1 


a man  to  the  frontier,  and  the  exiled  K'u-yiian,  the  celebrated  poet  of 
the  elegies  Li-sao,  according  to  Conrady,  wore  such  an  ornament 
in  his  girdle. ‘ But  as  kileh  means  also  to  decide,  the  wearer  of  this 
ring  intended  to  indicate  his  ability  to  decide  all  sorts  of  intricate 
questions  and  problems;  according  to  Chuang-tse  the  scholars  used  to 
wear  such  a ring  in  his  time. 

Pan  Ku,  the  author  of  the  Pai  hu  t'ung  whom  we  quoted  above 
in  regard  to  the  professional  s\Tnbolism  of  girdle-pendants,  makes  the 
following  remarks  on  the  rings  and  half-rings: 

“The  objects  which  are  to  be  worn  suspended  from  the  girdle 
make  known  one’s  intentions  and  display  one’s  abilities.  Hence  he 
who  cultivates  moral  conduct  {tao  “the  way”  in  the  sense  of  the  Con- 
fucian  school)  without  end,  wears  a ring.  He  who  makes  reason  and 
virtue  {tao  teh  in  the  sense  of  Lao-tse)  the  foundation  of  his  conduct, 
wears  the  jewels  kun}  He  who  is  able  to  decide  (kiieh)  questions  of 
aversion  and  doubt,  wears  a half-ring  {kiieh).  This  means  that  from 
the  kind  of  visible  girdle-ornaments  which  a man  wears  an  inference 
on  his  abilities  can  be  drawn.” 

The  Kii  yii  i'u  p'u  (Chs.  55  and  56)  contains  the  following  seven 
girdle-rings  (Figs.  110-116).  Figure  no  is  a ring  decorated  with  “con- 
nected clouds”  as  they  occur  on  the  Ju-i  sceptres  (Plate  LXVHl); 
a ring  of  this  design  was  apparently  given  as  a present  imphdng  every 
good  wash  {ju  i).  The  design  in  Fig.  in  is  the  same,  but  treated  in 
another  technique,  the  whole  being  carved  in  open-work  {lou  k'ling). 
Both  rings  are  made  pre-Han.  Figure  112  is  designated  as  a girdle-ring 
with  “coiled  clouds”  and  attributed  to  the  Han  period.  Figure  113 
shows  a coiled  phenix  of  which  it  is  said  “that  feathers,  u-ings,  crest 
and  beak  are  filled  with  life’s  motion  {sheng  lung)  like  in  painting  (or 

* I cannot  find  this  passage  in  the  Li-sao.  In  stanza  2 1 , K'u  Yuan  mentions  that 
he  wore  a belt  consisting  of  two  aromatic  plants  symbolic  of  moral  qualities  (d'Her- 
VEY  DE  Saint-Denys,  Le  Li-Sao,  p.  15).  In  another  stanza,  he  plucks  a branch  of 
the  fabulous  tree  k'iung  (Mayers,  Chinese  Reader’s  Manual,  p.  99)  to  enrich  his 
belt  (/.  c.,  p.  39).  He  further  alludes  to  the  honorary  decorations  conferred  upon 
him  to  wear  in  the  girdle,  in  remembrance  of  his  former  high  position  (p.  20),  and 
if  he  a.sks  himself  whether  his  girdle  will  be  again  ornamented  (p.  21),  he  hints  at 
the  hope  of  future  splendor.  The  fragrant  girdle  is  to  K'ii  Yuan  the  emblem  of 
his  virtues  and  merits  (p.  58). — As  we  have  popular  traditions  of  gold  and  pearls 
foreshadowing  calamities,  gold  and  jade  may  also  in  China  augur  bad  luck.  Hiao- 
Ch'^ng,  king  of  Chao  (b.  c.  265-245),  had  an  extraordinary  dream  in  B.  C.  262;  he 
saw  himself  clad  in  a costume  the  two  halves  of  which  cut  lengthwise  on  the  back 
showed  two  different  colors;  in  this  garb,  he  mounted  a chariot  drawn  by  dragons 
taking  their  flight  towards  Heaven;  but  he  soon  fell  from  the  clouds  to  land  on  a 
heap  of  gold  and  jade.  The  interpretation  of  this  dream  by  the  soothsayer  was  as 
follows:  the  grotesque  costume  foreshadows  distress;  the  flight  towards  Heaven  and 
the  fall  indicate  a deceitful  phantom  void  of  reality;  and  the  hillock  of  gold  and  jade 
announces  great  grief  (A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Han,  p.  135). 

^ Giles  No.  6521  “a  precious  stone  resembling  a pearl.”  I do  not  know  on  what 
foundation  this  symbolism  rests. 


212  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


Fig.  III. 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  in  Shape  of  Cloud-Band 
({rom  Kti  yii  t'u  p'u). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


213 


as  if  it  were  painted).”  This  jihrase  goes  to  show  that  pietorial  in- 
fluence is  imputed  to  this  design,*  and  I therefore  doubt  if  the  piece  in 
question  is,  as  stated,  a 
work  of  the  Han.  It 
must  come  down  from 
the  T'ang  or  Sung  period, 
judging  from  its  style. 

The  ring,  in  Fig.  114  is 
engraved  with  a floral 
wreath  styled  “auspi- 
cious plants”  {jiii  ts'ao) 
and  jiraised  in  the  text 
as  “breathing  in  its  ele- 
gance and  beauty  the 
spirit  of  the  Han.”  This 
is  all  very  well,  and  the 
elegance  of  the  pattern, 
nobody  will  deny;  but, 
thus  far,  it  cannot  be  pointed  out  earlier  than  on  works  of  the  T'ang 
period  and  breathes  too,  according  to  my  feeling,  the  spirit  of  the 


Fig.  1 13. 

Jade  Girdle-Ring  with  Design  of  Phenix  (from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


T'ang.  If  this  plant  of  good  luck  is  to  be  identified  with  the  tea-plant 
(Petillon,  /.  c.,  p.  247),  it  is  certainly  out  of  the  question  that  the 

* For  a full  discussion  of  this  subject  see  below. 


214  Field  Museum' of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

pattern  could  have  been  devised  under  the  Han,  as  tea  was  not  yet 
cultivated.  The  ring  in  Fig.  115  is  interesting  in  showing  a coiled 


hydra  with  projecting  fangs  and  long  sharp  claws,  which  is  an  unusual 
representation;  “it  is  a genuine  Han  work,”  remark  the  editors.  The 


last  ring  in  Fig.  ii6  of  a jade  “purple  like  vine-grapes”  is  carved  in 
a band  of  clouds  and  “an  object  posterior  to  the  Han  time.” 

We  dwelt  above  on  the  peculiar  symbolism  relative  to  the  incomplete 
rings  called  kiieh.  Also  Wu  Ta-ch'^ng  alludes  to  it  in  figuring  a speci- 
men of  this  kind  in  his  collection  (Fig.  1 17)  in  which  I believe  the  oldest 
type  of  these  rings  may  be  found.  It  is  carved  from  green  jade  with  a 
black  zone  and  has  a double  dragon  {shuang  lung)  ^ engraved  on  the 
one  face  and  “the  scarlet  bird”  {chu  kio  or  chu  niao),  the  bird  of  the 


southern  quarter  on  the  other  face.  The  form  of  this  bird  as  here 
outlined  e.xactly  agrees  with  that  on  a tile  disk  of  the  Han  period 
(“Chinese  Pottery  of  the  Han  Dynasty,”  Plate  LXVH,  Fig.  4).  It  is 
not  known  what  its  proper  significance  is  on  the  tile  nor  in  this 
connection  on  the  ring.  The  break  in  the  ring  is  effected  by  a narrow 
strip  sawn  away  between  the  two  dragon-heads  which  cannot  touch 
each  other;  it  symbolically  indicates  the  rupture  or  the  breaking-off  of 
cordial  relations  between  two  peoj^le. 

If  we  adopt  for  the  scarlet  bird  the  interpretation  proposed  by 
L.  DE  Saussure  {T'oung  Pao,  iqoq,  p.  264;  1910,  p.  614)  who  regards 
it  as  identical  with  the  quail  svTnbolizing  the  summer,  because  it  is  born 
from  the  fire  of  the  summer,  we  should  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
design  on  this  side  of  the  ring  represents  the  .summer,  and  be  bound  to 
infer  that  the  dragon  on  the  opposite  face  should  be  identical  with  the 
Green  Dragon  corresponding  to  the  sjjring.  Both  s\Tnbols  further 

■Compare  the  dragon-images  in  Figs.  91-93. 


2i6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


correspond  to  two  quarters,  the  latter  to  the  east,  the  former  to  the  south; 
so  that  in  the  case  of  an  exiled  official  his  wanderings  east  and  south  may 
be  s}Tnbolized,  or  that  the  break  of  the  ring  may  indicate  a sorrow  par- 
ticularly felt  in  the  spring  and  summer,  or  in  a more  abstract  way,  that 
there  is  a gap  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  life.  We  shall  come  back 


a Fro.  117.  6 

Incomplete  Jade  Ring,  kiieh.  Upper  and  Lower  Faces. 


to  the  subject  of  these  rings  in  a consideration  of  the  later  development 
of  the  girdle-pendants. 

It  should,  however,  be  added  that  this  explanation  can  be  accepted 
only  provisionally,  as  it  does  not  agree  with  the  archaeological  facts. 
In  all  representations  of  “the  Scarlet  Bird,”  as  far  as  known  to  me,  the 
bird  intended  is  not  a quail  but  apparently  a kind  of  pheasant.  In  the 
Chinese  art-journal  Shhi  cliou  kiio  kuang  tsi,  No.  1 1 (published  in  Shang- 
hai) there  is  on  Plate  V the  illustration  of  a very  interesting  stove  of 
Han  pottery  showing  the  animals  of  the  four  quarters,  one  on  each  of 
the  four  sides.  The  unusual  feature  of  this  design  is  that  “the  Green 
Dragon”  and  “the  White  Tiger”  are  here  associated  each  with  the 
figure  of  a man;  and  “the  Scarlet  Bird”  is  delineated  as  a large  heavy 
strutting  bird  with  a high  crest  and  a big  bunch  of  curved  tail-feathers, 
almost  in  the  style  of  a peacock;  it  may  be  any  species  of  a large  bird, 
but  it  is  certainly  not  a quail. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


217 


2.  The  Development  of  the  Girdle-Pendants 

The  ancient  girdle-pendant  composed  of  seven  jade  carvings,  a 
characteristic  feature  of  the  culture  of  the  Chou  period,  is  no  longer  in 
existence  in  China.  For  reasons  which  escape  our  knowledge  but  which 
we  shall  try  to  develop  hereafter,  it  did  not  possess  vitality  enough  to 
survive  for  any  great  length  of  time  after  the  downfall  of  the  house  of 
Chou.  While  possibly  still  alive  during  the  time  of  the  Han  as  a result 
of  the  revival  of  the  ancient  classical  traditions,  it  must  have  sunk  into 
oblivion  shortly  after  this  period,  being  already  displaced  by  other 
fashions  during  this  transitional  epoch  from  antiquity  to  the  middle 
ages.  The  overthrow  of  a dynasty  and  the  establishment  of  a new 
regime  usually  was  in  China  also  the  signal  for  a change  of  culture,  not 
always  radical,  but  ushered  in  by  modifications  of  costume,  style,  orna- 
ment, and  subsequent  new  developments  of  taste  and  art.  While 
neither  the  whole  nor  any  single  component  of  the  classical  girdle- 
pendant  was  perpetuated,  a new  style  of  girdle-ornament  gradually 
came  into  vogue  under  the  Han,  doubtless  connected  with  the  far-reach- 
ing revolution  then  affecting  all  domains  of  taste.  This  new  fashion, 
curiously  enough,  developed,  according  to  the  views  of  Chinese  archae- 
ologists, from  that  ornament  of  the  Chou  dynasty  for  which  we  should 
have  predicted  the  least  chance  of  an  extensive  popularity,  — the  gloomy 
half-ring  kiieh  which  originally  meant  separation,  banishment,  nay,  even 
capital  punishment;  or,  what  could  not  appeal  cither  to  the  people  at 
large,  the  decision  in  literary  disputes.  But  this  entire  symbolism 
must  have  died  out  during  the  Han  period;  for  then  these  objects  seem 
to  come  into  general  use,  carv^ed  into  graceful  designs  not  pointing  to 
any  serious  disaster  for  the  wearer.  It  is  useless  to  raise  here  a question 
of  terminology,  and  to  argue  that  these  ornaments  differ  from  the  ancient 
half-rings  and  may  have  developed  from  another  type  which  may  have 
even  existed  in  the  Chou  period  under  a different  name.  This  may  be, 
but  the  brutal  fact  remains  that  the  long  series  of  these  objects  is  desig- 
nated kiieh  by  the  native  archaeologists,  and  that  in  some  of  them  the 
type,  and  above  all,  the  designs  of  the  kueh,  — and  these  are  presumably* 
the  oldest  in  the  group  of  the  new  kiieh,  — have  been  faithfully  pre- 
served. These  ornaments  finally  end  in  neat  carvfings  of  animal  figures, 
quite  in  the  style  of  the  Japanese  Netsuke,  purely  decorative,  with  no 
other  object  in  view  than  to  afford  esthetic  enjo\*ment  to  the  wearer 
and  the  lookers-on.  Also  these  plastic  subjects  are  styled  kiieh.  It  is 
true,  in  this  case  the  Kti  yii  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  64,  p.  4)  objects  to  this  name  by 
saying:  “The  kiieh  is  a broken  (or  incomplete)  sort  of  disk  which  is 


2i8  Field  Museum  oe  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


perforated;  but  the  figure  of  the  cicada  here  illustrated,  as  well  as  the 
following  figures  of  the  dragon,  fish,  tiger,  etc.  have  all  solid  bodies 

without  perforations.  Hence 
they  cannot  be  designated  kiieh, 
but  should  only  be  styled 
girdle-ornaments  (p'ei);  merely 
for  the  sake  of  order,  they  have 
been  arranged  among  the  kiieh, 
whereby  confusion  may  ai  ise 
from  this  nomenclature,  as  in 
the  Po  ku  t'u  from  the  name 
“kettle”  {ting)  which  is  indis- 
criminately used  for  the  sacrifi- 
cial vessels  ts'un  and  i.”  Not- 
withstanding, this  work  also 
retains  the  name  kiieh  for  some 
of  these  objects,  while  it  desig- 
nates as  p'ei  others  which  still 
display  a certain  relation  to  the 
ancient  kiieh. 

The  twenty-four  illustra- 
tions of  these  girdle-ornaments 
given  by  the  Kii  yii  t'u  p'li 
(Chs.  62-65)  present  the  greatest  merit  of 
this  book  and  allow  us  to  trace  the  devel- 
opment of  these  decorative  objects  from  the 
Han  to  the  Sung  period,  and  to  connect 
these  more  ancient  v\dth  the  modern  forms. 
The  majority  of  these  designs,  whatever 
\ ' . their  supposed  age  may  be,  have  also  highly 

V"  artistic  merits  and  betray  an- unusual  beauty 

of  form  and  line.  These  objects  are  not  the 
result  of  antiquarian  s])eculation  as  the  jade 
tablets  of  rank  or  the  official  headdresses, 
but  live  affairs  which  were  really  made  and 
worn  by  all  classes  of  people.  Because  of 
this  intrinsic  value,  the  whole  series  is  here 
reproduced  in  its  entirety  in  the  same 
succession  as  in  the  original,  with  the 
addition  of  necessary  criticism.  The  first 
four  objects  are  designated  as  girdle-ornaments  {p'ei),  all  others  as  kiieh. 
Figure  118  represents  a pair  of  fi.shes  standing  erect,  carved  from  green 


Fir..  1 


Fig.  I IQ. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendants.  Pairs  of 
Fishes  (from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


219 


jade;  their  fins  are  connected,  and  they  arc  holding  in  their  mouths 
the  leaved  branch  of  a unllow  (Hu),  according  to  the  Chinese  explana- 
tion. It  should  be  added  that,  during  the  Han  period,  it  was  customary 
to  pluck  a wdllow-branch  (che  Hu,  see  Giles  No.  550),  and  to  offer  it 
to  a parting  friend  who  was  escorted  as  far  as  the  bridge  Pa  east  of 
Ch'ang-ngan  where  the  branch  of  separation  (kiieh\)  was  handed  to  the 
departing  friend.*  The  double  fish  is  a pattern  familiar  to  us  on  bronzes 
of  the  Han  period  and  s\Tnbolizes  the  mutual  harmony  between  spouses 
and  friends.^  The  significance  of  this  ornament  is  therefore  simple 
enough:  we  must  ]iart,  but  we  shall  remain  friends  as  these  two  fishes 
are  inseparable.  It  reveals  to  us  at  the  same  time  how  the  kiieh,  so 
formidable  in  the  beginning  with  its  message  of  absolute  divorce,  was 
mitigated  into  a more  kind-hearted  attitude  which  made  it  acceptable 
to  all  jieople,  — it  became  a parting-gift,  a farewell  trinket.  The  date 
of  this  piece  is  set  at  a period  covering  the  Wei  and  Tsin  dynasties, 
i.  e.  roughly  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  a.  d.,  but  I have  no  doubt 
that  the  pattern  goes  back  to  the  creative  period  of  the  Han. 

Figure  1 1 9 displays  a similar  design  of  a pair  of  fishes,  the  same  carving 
being  brought  out  on  both  faces.  Also  here,  the  editors  exjdain  the 
plant  design  as  that  of  a willow.  The  leaves  are  represented  here  on 
the  bodies  behind  the  gills,  and  a leaf-shaped  wreath  (with  the  perfora- 
tion of  the  ancient  kiieh)  appears  between  the  lower  fins.  Another 
diversity  is  that  the  tips  of  the  tails  here  touch  each  other  which  seems 
to  hint  at  a more  intimate  union  of  the  party  concerned,  while  there  is 
a gap  in  the  previous  piece  in  correspondence  with  the  break  in  the  an- 
cient half-ring.  The  editors,  not  unwittily,  comment  as  follows: 
“Wen-ti  (535-551  A.  D.),  the  Emperor  of  the  Wei  dynasty,  presented 
the  helle,  Sieh  Ling-yun  by  name,®  with  a girdle-pendant  of  green  jade 
representing  a double  fish.  Though  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that 
our  specimen  under  consideration  is  identical  with  just  that  one  of  the 
Wei,  still  its  examination  shows  that  it  must  be  an  object  from  that 
period  (535-554  a.  d.).” 

The  fish,  as  a symbol  of  power  and  rank,  came  into  vogue  with  the 
rise  of  the  T'ang  dynasty.  In  the  year  618,  the  first  year  of  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Kao-tsu,  the  T'ang,  doubtless  for  the  reason  of  marking 
the  change  of  dynasty,  abolished  the  silver  badge  having  the  shape  of 
a certain  plant  and  substituted  for  it  the  silver  tally  of  the  form  of  a 

•PfiriLLON,  Allusions  litt6raires,  p.  172. 

^See  Paul  Carus,  The  Fish  as  a Mystic  Symbol  in  China  and  Japan  (The  Open 
Court,  July,  1911). 

® She  was  the  emperor's  concubine  and  noted  for  her  skill  in  accomplishing 
marvels  of  needlework  in  the  dark,  hence  styled  the  genius  of  the  needle  (P£tillon, 
Allusions  litt^raires,  p.  438). 


220  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

fish  {yin  yii  f u).  In  690,  the  Empress  Wu  decreed  that  the  form  of  the 
tortoise  (kuei)  should  replace  that  of  the  fish;  but  in  705,  when  Chung- 
tsung  mounted  the  throne,  he  restored  the  former  fish-s\Tnbol  which  was 
perpetuated  till  after  the  end  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  and  appears  again  in 
the  epoch  of  the  Kin  and  the  Sungd 

Under  the  Khitan  reigning  as  the  Liao  dynasty  (983-1055  a.  d.) 
mention  is  constantly  made  of  the  gold-fish  tallies  {kin  yii  fu)  worn  in 
the  girdle  as  part  of  the  court  dress,  an  inheritance  of  the  custom  of 
the  T'ang.  These  badges  were  six  inches  long,  moulded  in  the  shape 
of  a fish,  split,  as  it  were,  longitudinally  into  two  halves,  and  the  flat 
surface  of  each  half  was  engraved  with  an  identical  inscription.  The 
left  half  was  kejit  in  the  palace  when  the  right  half  was  given  to  the  com- 
mander of  an  army,  who  had  to  return  it  to  the  treasury  when  the 
expedition  was  over.  The  halves  fitted  exactly  so  that  they  might 
be  tested  whenever  necessary 

We  must,  however,  distinguish  between  such  badges  conferred  upon 
as  a mark  of  honor  or  rank,  and  real  tallies  of  legal  force.  Thus,  we 
read  in  the  “History  of  the  Liao”  that  in  1036  a.  d.  the  Emperor  Hing- 
tsung  examined  a band  of  scholars  and  bestowed  on  them  red  garments 
and  silver  fishes,^  which,  in  this  case,  were  mere  tokens  of  recognition, 
but  of  no  lawdul  consequence;  while  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Liao  where 
military  service  was  compulsory,  a cast-bronze  tally  representing  a fish 
was  used  for  the  conscription  of  troops,  and  two  hundred  silver  tablets 
(p'ai-tse)  were  employed  to  transmit  orders  for  the  supply  of  horses.'* 
When  the  army  was  mobilized,  as  ordered  by  the  delivery  of  one-half 
tally,  it  did  not  march  until  the  emperor  despatched  a commander  with 
the  other  half;  the  two  halves  were  then  joined  together,  and  if  found 
to  fit,  the  army  began  to  advance.  The  “ History  of  the  Kin  Dynasty  ” 
relates  that  the  Princes  of  the  blood  used  to  wear  a fish  of  jade  {p'ei 
yii  yii)  and  the  officers  from  the  first  to  the  fourth  grade,  a fish  of  gold, 
while  a double-fish  pendant  was  reserved  for  the  heir-apparent.  These 
were  pureh'  ceremonial  badges  without  giving  legal  rights,  as  also  the 
“Sung  History”  says  that  they  were  only  worn  then  as  distinctive 
marks  of  rank,  and  not  inscribed  and  tested  in  the  palace  as  had  been 
the  case  under  the  T'ang. 

At  that  period,  frequent  mention  is  made  also  of  fish-purses  {yii  tai) 

'Compare  Chavannes  in  T'oung  Pao,  1904,  p.  36. 

* Bushell  in  Acles  du  Xle  Congres  international  des  Orientalistes,  II®  section, 
pp.  17,  18  (Paris,  1898). 

’H.  C.  V.  D.  Gabelentz,  Geschichte  der  grossen  Liao,  p.  123  (St.  Petersburg, 
1877). 

* L.  c.,  p.  189.  Compare  also  T.  de  L.acouperie,  Beginnings  of  Writing,  pp.  69-70 
(London,  1894). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


221 


bestowed  as  gifts  upon  Turkish  princes  (Ciiavannes,  1.  c.,  pp.  30,  32, 
36  etc'.).  A well  illustrated  article  on  these  fish-purses  will  be  found 
in  No.  58  of  the  Kokka.  Bronze  tallies  in  the  forms  of  a fish,  a tortoise, 
a tiger,  and  a seal  are  in  our  collection. 

Figures  1 20  and  1 2 1 are  styled  girdle-ornaments  with  double  phenixes 
{shiiang  Ilian  p'ei).  The  luan  is  a fabulous  bird,  related  in  design  to 
the  feng  and  huang.  The  former  has  been  identified  by  Prof.  Newton  ^ 


Fig.  120.  Fig.  i2i. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Pair  of  Phenixes  or  Peacocks  Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Pair  of  Phenixes  or 
(from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u).  Peacocks  (from  Ku  yu  I'u  p'u). 


with  the  Argus  pheasant  of  Borneo  and  Malacca,  the  latter  with  the 
peacock  of  India.  These  identifications  seem  quite  plausible,  especially 
as  far  as  the  more  recent  elaborate  representations  of  these  birds  are 
concerned.  The  text  explains  only  that  they  are  holding  flowers  in 
their  beaks,  and  refers  us  to  Shih  Ts'ung  who  is  knowm  as  a practical 
joker,  and  who  died  in  300  a.  d.  (Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  651) ; 
he  is  said  to  have  kept  in  his  seraglio  a hundred  beauties  who  all  carried 
in  their  girdles  ornaments  of  fine  jade  in  the  shape  of  phenixes  {fntg 
luan)',  the  present  one,  thinks  the  Ku  yii  i'u  p'u,  is  one  of  that  lot. 
While  nothing  can  force  us  to  make  this  conclusion  our  own,  it  is  quite 

* See  Giles,  Adversaria  Sinica,  No.  i,  p.  9. 


222  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

evident  from  this  quotation  what  the  Chinese  author  wants  us  to  under- 
stand in  regard  to  the  s>Tnbolic  meaning  of  this  ornament.  “In  poetry,” 
says  Mayers  (Chinese  Reader’s  Manual,  p.  41),  “many  covert  allu- 
sions to  sexual  pairing  are  intimated  by  reference  to  the  inseparable 
fellowship  of  the  Jeng  and  the  huang.”  In  Fig.  121,  this  allusion  is 
undisguised  in  the  osculation  of  the  two  birds  and  allows  of  the  inference 
that  this  pendant  was  plainly  a lover’s  gift  to  his  mistress.  This  sym- 
bolism of  the  so-called  phenix  becomes  more  intelligible,  if  we  say 
peacock  instead  of  phenix  and  derive,  with  the  importation  of  this 
bird  from  India  into  China,  also  this  symbolism  from  India  where  (as 
also  later  in  Europe)  the  peacock  played  a prominent  role  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  love. 

In  Fig.  120,  the  cloud-pattern  over  the  head  of  each  bird  should  be 
noted,  for  the  poet  T'ao  Yuan-ming  (365-427)  says:  “The  divine  feng 
dances  among  the  clouds,  the  spiritual  luan  trills  its  pure  notes”  (Giles, 
Adversaria  Sinica,  No.  i,  p.  9).  The  work  in  Fig.  121  is  praised  as 
“clever”  (tsing  Hang)  in  the  Sung  Catalogue  and  said  to  be  a beautiful 
object  of  the  Tsin  (265-419  a.  d.)  or  T'ang  dynasty  (618-905  a.  d.). 

In  Fig.  122  the  upper  and  lower  face  (a  and  b)  of  the  ornament  is 
represented.  Two  hydras  {shiiang  ch'ih)  are  winding  around  a per- 
forated jade  plaque  rounded  below  and  tapering  at  the  upper  end.  The 
design  is  of  great  elegance,  and  the  editors  do  not  suppress  the  remark 
that  the  curves  and  wriggles  of  the  monsters  are  true  to  life. 

The  plant  design  in  Fig.  123  is  e.xplained  as  “the  fragrant  herb” 
(hiang  Is' ad)  which  is  designated  also  as  yU  ts'ung,  lit.  “aromatic  onion.” 
Bretschneider  has  not  identified  this  n^me.  “This  piece  is  admirable 
and  a beauty  in  its  make-up;  it  may  be  a masterpiece  of  the  San  tai” 
( Hia,  Shang  and  Chou  dynasties) . This  definition  is  out  of  the  question ; 
the  design,  I should  say,  betrays  the  style  of  the  T'ang  dynasty.  The 
carving  is  one-sided  only.  In  the  next  Fig.  124,  it  is  brought  out  alike 
on  both  sides.  A butterfly  with  wings  outspread,  leaning  its  antennae 
over  an  oval-shaped  ring;  alleged  to  be  Han. 

Figure  i25shows  the  design  oia  k'ueilutig  (Giles  No.  6507),  a peculiar 
kind  of  dragon,  coiled  in  the  form  of  a spiral.  The  head  is  winding  up 
into  an  elephant’s  nose  likewise  treated  as  spiral,  and  reminds  one  of  the 
Indian  makara  (hippocamp) ; but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  tapir  is 
intended,  for  that  animal  was  familiar  to  the  art  of  the  Han  (“Chinese 
Pottery  of  the  Han  Dynasty,”  p.  152).'  It  is  certainly  not  from  the 
time  of  the  San  tai,  as  stated  in  the  text,  but  not  older  than  the  Han 
period. 

' It  is  also  familiar,  through  the  medium  of  Chinese  models,  to  the  Japanese 
netsuke-carvers,  as  Plate  44  in  A.  Brockhaus,  Netsuke,  shows;  for  baku  is  the  tapir 
(written  with  the  same  character  as  the  Chinese  word  for  the  tapir). 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


223 


A twi.sted  band  carved  alike  on  both  sides  with  meanders  (“thunder 
pattern,”  lei  wen)  is  represented  in  the  ornament  Fig.  126  which  is 
called  “a  work  of  the  Han,  elegant  and  admirable.” 


a Fig.  122.  ft 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Upper  and  Lower  Faces.  Two  Hydras  (from  Ku  y-u  t'u  p'u). 


Fig.  I2J.  Fig.  124. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  “The  Fragrant  Herb”  (from  Ku  yiifu  p'u).  Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  But- 
terfly (from  Ku  yu  t'u  p'u). 


Figures  127  and  128  represent  coiled  hydras,  with  the  addition  of  a 
rodent  (shu)  whisking  over  the  monster’s  back  in  Fig.  128.  The  former 
is  referred  to  the  Han  period  which  may  be  correct,  the  latter  to  the 
San  tai,  which  I think  is  imiiossible,  despite  the  rea.son  given  for  this 


224 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Coiled  Dragon  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


Fig.  126. 


Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Twisted  Band 
(from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


Fig.  128. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Coiled  Hydra  with  Rodent 
(from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


Fig.  127. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Coiled  Hydra 
(from  Ku  yii  I'u  p u). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


225 


dating.  In  the  period  T'ien-chung  (1023-1032),  this  jhece  was  found 
in  the  grave  of  Kao  Ch  ai,  a disciple  of  Confucius,  who  had  lived  in  the 


sixth  century  b.  c.  (Giles, 
Biographical  Dictionary, 
651).  This  news  was  prob- 
ably nothing  more  than  a 
dealer’s  adv^ertisement  and 
confirms  the  impression  gained 
from  the  design  that  this  is  a 
genuine  work  of  the  Sung 
period.  The  hydra  is  laid 
around  a spiral  explained  as 
the  cosmic  s>Tnbol  t'ai  yi, 
which  occupied  the  jihiloso- 
phers  of  the  Sung  time  to  a 
great  extent,  and  the  presence 
of  the  rat,  or  whatever  species 


Fig.  129. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Hydra  and  Bird-Head 
(from  Ku  yu  t'u  p'u). 


Fig.  I, jo. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Hatchet- Design  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


226  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

this  rodent  may  be,  stamps  on  this  pattern  the  character  of  a genre  pic- 
ture as  it  is  characteristic  of  the  impressionistic  school  of  Sung  painters. 


Figure  1 29  is,  according  to  the  Chinese  explanation,  also  a single  coiled 
hydra,  of  the  Han  ]jeriod,  but  the  curious  bird-head  on  the  right-hand 


Fig.  132. 

Jade  Girdle-Ornament.  Cloud-Dragon 
(from  Kn  yiit'u  p'u). 


Fig.  133. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant,  Single  Fish 
(from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


227 


side  is  not  noted,  nor  is  the  strip  of  clouds  between  it  and  the  hydra- 
head.  There  is  also  a cloud-pattern  in  the  lower  portion,  and  the 
phenomenon  of  rain  is  doubtless  expressed  in  this  de.sign. 

Figure  130  is  interpreted  as  a kiao-ch'ih,  i.  e.  a young  dragon  whose 
horns  have  not  yet  grown.  I am  unable  to  detect  any  dragon-figure 
in  this  design,  unless  it  be  on  the  opposite  face  which  is  not  represented; 
but  this  point  is  not  mentioned  in  the  text.  I believe  this  pattern  must 
be  explained  as  being  composed  of  two  axe-shaped  implements  (of  the 
same  type  as  represented  in  Figs.  3 and  4 of  Plate  XXVIIl),  joined 
together  in  the  middle,  overlaid  with  and  encircled  by  cloud-ornaments. 
We  remember  the  so-called  cloud-shaped  ceremonial  dance-axes  of 
the  Han  (p.  41),  and  I am  inclined  to. think  that  a certain  share  is  due 
to  the  latter  in  the  conception  of  this  design,  which  is  regarded  as  pre- 
Han  by  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u. 

Figure  13 1 is  interesting  as  showing  the  full  figure  of  a cicada  (see 
Fig.  168  and  Plate  XXXVI,  Figs.  5-9),  the  back  represented  on  the 
upper,  and  the  abdomen  of  the  insect  on  the  lower  face  of  the  carving. 
Nothing  is  said  in  regard  to  its  s\Tnbolism.  It  is  curious  that,  despite 
the  manifest  tendency  to  carve  the  little  creature  as  true  to  nature  as 
possible,'  bands  of  meander  scrolls  are  brought  out  in  the  design.  We 
shall  hear  more  of  cicadas  in  tht  course  of  this  investigation. 

The  ornament  in  Fig.  132  carved  alike  on  both  faces  is  again  the 
dragon  k'uei  lung\  “fierce  and  frightful,”  is  the  editorial  comment.  As 
indicated  by  the  decorative  elements,  it  is  doubtless  a cloud  and  thunder- 
dragon.  Its  antique  elegance,  is  the  editorial  conclusion,  stamps  it  as 
a relic  of  the  Chou  or  Ts'in.^ 

Figure  133  repre.sents  the  double-sided  carving  of  a single  fish.  “The 
scales  and  the  bristly  dorsal  fins  {lieh,  Giles  No.  7107)  are  life-like, 
and  it  is  like  an  object  of  the  Tsin  (265-419  .a.  d.)  or  T'ang  dynasty  (618- 
905  .A.  D.),”  comment  the  editors.  The  scales  are  conceived  of  as 
meander  fretwork;  but  I do  not  know  whether,  for  this  reason,  this  fish 
is  associated  with  thunder.  The  peculiar  feature  is,  at  all  events,  its 
single-blessedness  in  distinction  from  the  common  fish  couples.  There 
is  a huge  fi.sh  in  the  Yellow  River,  called  kuan  (Giles  No.  6371,  Petil- 
LON,  1.  c.,  p.  500)  ® supposed  to  be  a kind  of  .spike,  noted  for  its  solitary 
habits  of  life,  and  therefore  an  emblematic  expression  for  anybody 

* The  Chinese  text  says  that  it  does  not  differ  from  living  ones,  as  they  appear 
on  paper  mulberry-trees  after  a growth  of  three  years. 

* The  same  design  as  the  engraving  on  an  ink-cake  in  Fang-shih  mo  p'u,  Ch.  2, 
P-  3- 

> The  Chinese  theory  that  this  species  is  not  able  to  close  its  eyes  is  certainly  mere 
fancy,  as  in  all  fishes  the  aecessory  organs  of  the  eye  like  the  lids  and  lachrymal 
glands  are  poorly  developed. 


228  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

deprived  of  company  like  an  orphan,  a w-idower,  a bachelor,  or  a lonely 
fellow  without  kith  or  kind  A girdle-ornament  of  this  design  was 
perhaps  a gift  for  a man  in  this  condition. 


Fig.  134. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Winding  Dragon  (from  Ku  yiit'u  p'u). 


The  dragon  shown  in  Fig.  134  is  styled  a p'an  k'itc  (Giles  No.  2346) 
“a  winding  young  dragon  without  horns.”  Its  stripes  must  be  under- 
stood, as  explained  in  the  text,  from  the  natural  red  veins  in  the  white 
jade  which  look  like  tiger  or  panther  stripes  and  were  skilfully  used  by 


the  artist  in  cartung.  The  editors  insist  on  this  piece  being  a work  of 
the  time  of  the  Six  Dynasties  (leu  ch'ao),  i.  e.  from  about  the  third  to 
the  sixth  century. 

‘ In  this  sense,  it  is  mentioned  as  early  as  in  the  Shu  king.  In  one  poem  of  the 
Shi  king,  No.  9 of  the  songs  of  the  country  of  Ts'i,  Wen  Kiang,  the  widow  of  Prince 
Huan  of  Lu,  is  censured  for  returning  several  times  into  her  native  country  of  Ts'i 
where  she  entertained  an  incestuous  intercourse  with  her  own  brother,  the  prince 
Siang.  The  jx>et  compares  her  to  the  fish  kuan  who  is  restless  and  sleepless  at  night 
for  lack  of  a bed-fellow  (see  Legge,  Shi  king,  Vol.  I,  p.  159,  and  Vol.  II,  p.  293). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


229 


The  carving  of  a tiger  in  Fig.  135  is  called  “ornamented  (lit.  embroi- 
dered) tiger-spirit  (sin  hu  shen),  graceful  and  yet  ferocious,  severe  and 
yet  majestic,  with  a flavor  of  the  idea  that  he  is  the  king  of  the  animals. 


Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Upper  and  Lower  Faces.  Single  Hydra  (from  Ku  yii  t*u  p*u). 


a curious  object  of  the  San-tai.”  I am  under  the  impression  that  this 
design  has  been  influenced  by  i)ictorial  art  (note  the  word  sin)  and  may 
be  of  mediaeval  origin  (T'ang  or  Sting). 

The  following  ornaments  are  arranged  together  in  a separate  chapter 
(Ch.  65),  and  it  will  be  seen  that  they  are,  with  the  exception  of  Fig.  137, 
built  up  on  the  same  principle  as 
we  found  in  Fig.  122.  The  dragons 
are,  as  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  says,  laid 
around  the  kiieh-,  in  Fig.  136  it  is  a 
single  hydra,  in  Fig.  138  a couple 
of  hydras  engaged  in  “loveplay” 

(kiao  hi),  with  teeth  and  claws 
“true  to  nature,”  while  the  finesse 
of  detail  is  extolled  in  Fig.  136  and 
“the  admirable  life’s  motion”  is 
emphasized  in  the  coiled  hydra 
of  Fig.  137.  All  three  are  beyond 
cavil  productions  of  the  Han  period. 

The  car\dngs  in  Figs.  139-141  represent  fine  variations  of  the  same 
motive.  The  editors  justly  become  enthusiastic  over  the  beauty  of 
these  little  artworks.  The  one  in  Fig.  139,  carved  out  of  a pale  blue 
jade,  — the  two  hydras  as  gentle  and  genial  creatures  gracefully  playing 
around  the  upper  and  lower  edges  of  the  oval  ring,  — is  defined  as  a 


Fig.  137. 

Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Coiled  Hydra 
(from  Ku  yA  t'u  p'u). 


230  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,Vol.  X. 

“masterpiece  of  the  Han.”  In  Fig.  140,  the  two  creatures  are  stretching 
their  paws  out  to  caress  each  other,  and  the  Chinese  interpretation 
lays  stress  on  their  “spiritual  life’s  motion”  {shen  sheng  lung)  as  it 


Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Upper  and  Lower  Faces.  Couple  of  Hydras  (from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


was  possible  only  for  the  clever  craftsmen  {Hang  kung)  of  the  Han  time 
to  accomplish.  The  piece  in  Fig.  141  is  the  most  remarkable  of  all  for 
its  as>Tnmetrical  arrangement,  — the  dragons,  soaring  in  the  clouds. 


Feb.,  1912.  J.VDE.  231 

adjoining  the  upper  and  right-hand  edges,  — and  for  the  bold  and 
unconventional  treatment  of  the  design  exj^ressed  in  the  wooing  of  the 
two  happy  creatures,  — the  one  biting  the  tail  of  the  other.*  It  is 


Jade  Girdle-Pendant.  Upper  and  Lower  Faces.  Playing  Hydras  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


evident  that  the  “loveplay  of  nature”  is  brought  out  with  .supreme 
volition  in  these  designs  as  well  as  in  those  of  the  paired  fishes  and 

‘The  Chinese  comment  tersely  utters  the  two  words  kiao  yu,  ‘‘they  get  ready 
for  cohabitation.” 


232  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

phenixes,  and  we  shall  soon  perceive  hereafter  that  also  a deeper  re- 
ligious and  philosophical  idea  is  underlying  this  tendency. 

First  of  all,  we  are  now  able  to  recognize  the  general  character  of 
these  girdle-pendants:  they  are  related  to  thoughts  of  friendship  and 
love,  and  in  this  sense,  are  closely  joined  to  the  ancient  jewels  of  the 
Chou  period.  But  while  they  are  exjjressive  of  the  same  range  of 
emotions,  they  differ  from  them  in  form  and  design,  and  this  difference 
was  brought  about  by  the  tendency  to  lend  a marked  expression  to 
these  emotional  thoughts  in  the  designs  themselves.  In  other  words, 
the  stiff  and  formal  traditions  of  the  Chou  period  were  no  longer  suffi- 
cient for  the, temperament  of  the  people  of  the  Han  time  who  were 
framed  of  a different  mould.  The  girdle-ornaments  of  the  Chou,  as 
we  saw,  were  geometrical  in  shape,  cut  out  in  circles,  half-circles,  squares 
and  rectangles,  in  conformity  with  the  whole  geometric  trend  of  mind 
ruling  at  that  time,  which  measured,  surveyed  and  weighed  ever\i;hing; 
the  s\Tnbolism  of  these  ornaments  did  not  refer  to  their  designs,  but  to 
their  designations  only  by  way  of  a phonetic  rebus,  an  esthetic  pleasure 
merely  caught  by  the  ear  and  eye,  and  a means  of  expression  for  poetry 
only.  But  Art  had  to  stand  behind  with  empty  hands.  The  Han 
people  broke  with  this  spoken  and  written  svTnbolism  and  created  the 
symbolism  of  the  subject,  giving,  by  so  doing,  a powerful  impetus  to  the 
development  of  art.  They  dropped  all  the  nice  words  of  their  predeces- 
sors, the  kii,  the  kin,  the  yii,  the  heng  and  the  huang  etc.,  and  crystallized 
their  sentiments  into  the  kiieh.  In  place  of  words,  they  enthroned  the 
artistic  motive,  and  the  sound  of  the  verse  was  exchanged  for  an  enliv- 
ened rhythm  of  material  form  and  line.  They  were,  in  fact,  productive 
creators,  as  we  had  occasion  to  admire  in  several  types  of  Han  ceramics 
and,  seeking  forms  for  the  expression  of  their  emotions,  their  art  became 
essentially  emotional  and,  as  a consequence,  the  emotions  instilled  into 
their  ])roductions  of  art  must  become  our  guides  in  attempting  to 
understand  them.  For  this  reason  we  must  ransack  all  available 
sources  for  tracing  any  real  or  alleged  sjunbolism  connected  wdth  them, 
for  this  is  the  key  to  the  treasury  leading  to  the  heart  of  their  art,  and 
not  only  their  art,  but  that  of  China  in  general  whose  ideals  are  still 
based  on  and  nourished  by  that  memorable  jx;riod.  Neglecting  or 
disregarding  the  interpretations  of  the  Chinese  would  not  only  result 
in  an  absolute  failure  of  a proper  understanding  and  appreciation  of 
their  art,  but  might  also  lead  to  such  abortive  caricatures  as  have  un- 
fortunately been  drawm  of  China’s  culture-historical  development. 

But  to  revert  to  our  subject,  — the  girdle-pendant  of  the  Chou  was 
the  product  of  the  impersonal  and  ethnical  character  of  the  art  of  that 
age;  it  was  general  and  communistic,  it  applied  to  everybody  in  the 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXIX. 


3 

2 I 4 

Jade  Girdle-Ornaments  of  women,  han  period. 


t.-r 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXX. 


Designs  on  the  lower  Faces  of  the  Girdle-Ornaments  in  Figs.  1, 3 and  4 of  Preceding  Plate. 


Feb.,  1912.  « 


Jade. 


/ 


233 


community  in  the  same  form;  it  did  not  spring  up  from  an  individual 
thought,  but  presented  an  ethnical  element,  a national  type.  Senti- 
ments move  on  manifold  lines  and  pendulate  between  numerous  degrees 
of  variations.  When  sentiment  demanded  its  right  and  conquered  its 
place  in  the  art  of  the  Han,  the  natural  consequence  was  that  at  the 
same  time  when  the  individual  keynote  was  sounded  in  the  art-motives, 
also  variations  of  motives  sprang  into  existence  in  proportion  to  the 
variations  of  sentiments. 

This  implies  the  two  new  great  factors  which  characterize  the  spirit 
of  the  Han  time,  — individualism  and  variability,  in  poetry, ^ in  art, 
in  culture  and  life  in  general.  The  personal  spirit  in  taste  gradually 
awakens : it  was  now  possible  for  every  one  to  choose  a girdle-ornament 
according  to  his  liking.  For  the  first  time,  we  hear  of  names  of  artists 
under  the  Han,  six  painters  under  the  Western  Han,  and  nine  under  the 
Eastern  Han  (Giles,  Introduction  etc.,  pp.  6,  7),  also  of  workers  in 
bronze  and  other  craftsmen  (Laufer,  Chinese  Pottery,  pp.  196,  292, 
296).  The  typical,  traditional  objects  of  antiquity  now  received  a 
tinge  of  personality  or  even  gave  way  to  new  forms ; these  dissolved  into 
numerous  variations  to  express  the  correspondingly  numerous  shades 
of  sentiments,  and  to  answer  the  demands  of  customers  of  various  minds. 

I am  in  a position  to  lay  before  the  reader  four  burial  pieces  of  girdle- 
ornaments  (Plate  XXIX)  which  in  style  and  technique  agree  with  the 
last  six  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u.  They  are  authentic  objects  of  the  Han 
period  originating  from  graves  west  of  Si-ngan  fu.  Their  character  as 
mortuary  offerings  will  allow  us  to  advance  one  step  further  in  the 
understanding  of  their  symbolism.  The  finest  qualities  of  jade  of  the 
most  exquisite  colors  have  been  selected  for  this  purpose,  and  the  execu- 
tion of  the  work  in  which  the  three  processes  of  engraving,  carving  in 
relief  and  a jour  are  united,  is  perfect.  The  glyptic  art  of  antiquity 
has  reached  in  these  carvings  a climax  unattained  by  any  later  age.  The 
piece  in  Fig.  1,  Plate  XXIX,  is  remarkable  for  the  magnificent  colora- 
tion of  the  jade  in  various  shades  of  brown  and  red  standing  out  from 
an  apple-green  background,  and  for  the  freedom  and  mastery  in  the 
treatment  of  the  design.  Around  a perforated  elongated  foundation, 

* J.  Edkins,  On  the  Poets  of  China  {Journal  of  the  Peking  Oriental  Society  ,W  o\.  II, 
p.  219)  has  given  a good  characteristic  of  Han  poetry.  “The  Han  poets  were  men 
who  felt  within  themselves  the  impulses  of  poetry,  which  must  find  expression  in 
some  way.  The  old  Odes  were  like  the  pleasant  murmuring  of  the  brook,  the  whisper 
of  the  pines  in  mountain  hollows,  the  tinkling  of  the  sheep  bell  heard  from  afar.  The 
compositions  of  the  Ch'u  poets  were  marked  by  the  depth  and  dashing  speed  of  the 
river  which  forces  its  way  through  rocks  attended  by  deafening  sound  and  distinct 
contrasts  of  light  and  shadow.  There  was  more  art  in  these  compositions  than  in 
those  of  earlier  date,  and  it  was  accompanied  by  profounder  feeling.  Consequently, 
the  Han  poets  could  adopt  no  other  course.  In  short,  they  made  poems  of  the  same 
kind"  etc. 


234  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axth.,Vol.  X. 

the  survival  of  the  ancient  kiieh,  there  is  on  the  right  the  figure  of  a 
phenix  standing  on  clouds  and  looking  towards  the  slender-bodied 
hydra  {ch'ih)  below,  which  has  the  bearded  head  of  a bird  \nth  pointed 
beak  very  similar  to  that  of  the  phenix.  The  left  hind-foot  of  the  mon- 
ster terminates  in  the  figure  of  a bird’s  head,  presumably  svTnbolizing  a 
cloud.  It  is  rearing  the  left  fore-paw  in  the  direction  of  the  bird, 
supporting  the  right  on  the  clouds  below.  Large  cloud-bands  arc  grace- 
fully displayed  along  the  upper  edge.  The  reverse  (Plate  XXX,  Fig.  i) 
is  plain  except  that  the  central  medallion  is  filled  with  engraved  spiral 
I^atterns;  the  color  of  the  jade  is  here  green-gray  interspersed  with 
reddish  specks  and  veins.  This  carving  (15.1  cm  in  length,  7.1  cm  in 
width  and  4-6  mm  in  thickness)  was  discovered  in  a grave  of  the  Han 
period  in  the  village  Wan-ls'nn  west  of  the  city  of  Si-ngan  fu. 

The  designs  in  Figs.  2 and  3,  differing  only  as  to  their  dimensions 
are  identical  even  in  minute  details,  which  goes  to  show  that  there  were 
typical  patterns  available  for  this  purpose.  Two  hydras,  their  heads 
seen  from  above,  are  winding  around  the  lower  and  left  side  of  the  jade 
plaque,  and  spiral  ornaments  in  open-work  surround  the  two  spear- 
shaped  points.  The  jade  of  the  carving  in  Fig.  2 is  grayish,  and  red  in 
the  left  and  lower  right  portion;  that  in  Fig.  3 bluish  green  and  gray. 

The  girdle-ornament  in  Fig.  4 of  the  same  Plate  is  of  a milk-white, 
smooth,  lustrous  jade  and  has  the  fundamental  nucleus  wdth  oval 
perforation  shaped  in  the  same  way  as  Fig.  i.  Four  monsters  of  con- 
ventionalized design,  carved  in  open-work  are  laid  around  the  edges; 
above  a bearded  creature  with  long  head  similar  to  the  k'uei  lung,  to  the 
left  a bird  joining  it,  then  an  elephant  or  tapir  head,  and  below  a run- 
ning quadruped  the  head  of  which  is  not  clearly  outlined.  This  find 
comes  from  a grave  of  the  Han  period  in  the  village  Kiao  ts'iin,  west  of 
the  city  of  Si-ngan  fu. 

We  have  seen  that  these  designs  relate  to  and  are  emblematic  of 
procreation.  Not  only  the  pairing  of  the  animals,  the  most  conspicuous 
feature  in  all  of  them,  but  also  the  minor  decorative  elements  point  in 
the  same  direction.  The  ornamental  clouds  are  emblematic  of  genera- 
tive power  too,  as  they  send  fertilizing  rain.  On  the  lower  faces  of  the 
four  carvings  in  our  collection,  phallic  designs  are  engraved  Mdth  undis- 
guised explicitness  (Plate  XXX) ; the  spear-like  ends  of  the  oval  kiieh 
are  presumably  also  intended  as  emblems  of  that  kind.  These  four 
pieces  were  found  in  women’s  graves;  apparently  they  had  been  worn 
by  these  women  during  their  life  as  girdle-pendants  and  were,  on  their 
death,  buried  with  them.  The  opinion  of  Chinese  archa»logists  in 
Si-ngan  fu,  where  this  type  is  designated  “chicken-heart  girdle-orna- 
ment” (see  below  p.  238),  is  that  it  was  placed  in  the  womb  with  the 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


235 


idea  of  preventing  the  flesh  from  decay;  that  they  were,  accordingly, 
protecting  amulets  in  the  grave.  This  custom  will  be  discussed  at 
length  in  Chapter  VII I.  From  this  usage  we  recognize  that  the  s\Tn- 
bolism  of  these  ornaments  was  deep  and  serious  with  an  ethical  reminder 
of  death.  It  was  a love-token  given  by  the  husband  to  his  wife  to 
remind  her  of  their  happy  union  and  at  the  same  time  of  their  final 
sej^aration  by  death;  hence  the  appropriate  application  of  the  kiieh, 
the  ring  of  separation;  and  now  we  understand  why  all  these  ornaments, 
despite  the  fact  that  they  allude  to  a union  in  the  duplication  of  animals, 
arc  simultaneously  emblems  of  j)arting  {kiieh)  and  death.  But  death, 
in  the  view  of  the  Chinese,  does  not  mean  a permanent,  but  rather  a 
temporarv  separation.  The  relations  of  a husband  and  a wife  did  not 
cease  at  the  moment  of  death ; they  continued  to  be  united  even  beyond 
the  grave,  and  expected  to  resume  their  marital  relations  in  a future 
life.*  The  custom  tending  to  preserve  the  flesh  by  means  of  the  jade 
substance  (even  though  imaginary)  shows  plainly  that  the  post-mortem 
relations  were  not  viewed  as  merely  platonic,  but  also  as  substantial 
enjoyments.  This  abundance  of  ideas  covering  the  span  of  life  and 
death  in  the  fundamental  human  relations  imbues  the  art  of  the  Han 
with  a spiritual  tendency  and  an  intrinsic  idealistic  import.  From 
this  point  of  view,  the  art  of  the  Han  period  as  embodying  ideas  and 
ideals  is  preeminently  idealistic.**  It  should,  further,  be  defined  as 
emotional  transcendentalism,  as  these  ideas  have  their  basis  in  emotions, 
not  in  deductions.  Whether  the  conception  of  transcendental  love 
meant  also  eternal  love,  we  do  not  know;  but  however  this  may  be, 
this  is  of  all  Chinese  ideas  the  most  idealistic  ever  conceived  of,  one 
which  had  a profound  bearing  on  ethical  conduct  and  at  the  same  time 
a fruitful  effect  on  art.  This  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  love  somewhat 
savours  of  that  mysterious  symbolism  which  the  greatest  jjoet  of  the 
Germanic  race,  Ibsen,  has  embodied  in  his  dramatic  legacy  “When 
We  Dead  Awaken.” 

The  four  girdle-pendants  in  Figs.  14 2- 145  are  derived  from  the  work 
of  Wu  Ta-ch'eng,  not  being  commented  upon  by  him  in  an  explanatory 
text.  For  several  reasons,  they  deserve  reproduction.  Figures  142  and 
144  are  designated  as  “ dragon-sha])ed  girdle-pendants,  both  of  white 
jade,  the  one  with  additional  russet  spots,  the  other  with  a yellow 

‘ Also  in  ancient  times  as  at  the  present  time  husband  and  wife  were  buried  in 
the  same  grave,  but  in  different  coffins.  The  grave  was  considered  a dwelling-place, 
and  a widow  mourning  the  death  of  her  husband  expresses  the  desire  “to  go  home 
to  his  abode  or  chamber”  on  her  death  {Shi  kin^,  ed.  Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  187). 

® Like  the  poetry  introduced  by  the  Pan  family  in  which,  according  to  the  jChinese 
critics,  human  feelings  and  moral  sentiments  were  involv'ed.  Poetryj  became  with 
them  a moral  instructor  and,  at  the  same  time,  touched  the  feelings  (Edkiss, 
/.  c.,  p.  238). 


236  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

mist;”  Fig.  143  is  labeled  ‘‘hydra  (cA'//?)-shaped  girdle-pendant  of  green 
jade  with  russet  speckles.”  All  three  are  flat  plaques,  showing  the  mon- 


Fig.  142. 

Dragon-Shaped  Girdle-Pendant  of  White  Jade  with  Russet  Spots. 


Fig.  I4J. 

Hydra-Shaped  Girdle- Pendant  of  Green  Jade  with  Russet  Spots. 


sters  freely  carved  in  sharp  outlines.  Alh  three  have  that  peculiar 
feature  in  common  that  the  head  of  a bird  is  attached  to  the  ends  of 
the  monsters,  in  Figs.  142  and  143  to  the  right-hand  sides;  in  Fig.  144 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


237 


very  clearly  in  the  middle  portion,  and  it  seems  that  a feathered  crest 
surrounds  the  fish-tail  of  the  monster.  On  the  funeral  stone  sculpture- 
work  of  the  Han  period  we  meet  with  representations  of  atmosjjheric 
phenomena  exhibiting  clouds  conceived  of  as  birds  or  clouds  with  bird- 
heads  attached,  and  celestial  spirits  connected  with  figures  of  birds  in 


the  act  of  instigating  dragons  to  send  rain.  The  bodies  of  the  two 
monsters  in  Figs.  142  and  143  are,  further,  filled  with  spirals  suggestive 
to  the  Chinese  mind  of  clouds,  rain  and  thunderstorm  and  therefore 
known  under  the  name  of  cloud-pattern.  We  have,  accordingly,  in 
these  jade  plaques  an  abridged  conventionalized  representation  of  what 
is  depicted  on  a larger  scale  in  a more  realistic  manner  on  the  Han 
grave-sculptures,  — the  motive  of  the  dragon  assisted  by  birds  in  moving 
the  clouds  and  sending  down  beneficial  rain  (compare  above  p.  164). 


238  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axtii.,  Vol.  X. 

Fifjure  145  is  styled  by  \Vu  “ j^irdle-pendant  with  designs  of  aquatic 
plants,  of  white  jade  with  russet  specks.”  The  word  Isao  is  a generic 
term  for  aquatic  plants  and  is  mentioned  as  early  as  in  the  Shu  king. 

The  jade  piece  in  Fig.  146  is  grouped  by  \Vu  in  this  class,  though  he 
expressly  states  that  this  is  not  a girdle-ornament.  He  simply  calls 
it  ‘‘jade  with  dragon-design,  made  of  green  jade  with  clay  spots  all 
over,”  and  adds:  ‘‘To  judge  from  its  make-up,  it  is  very  old,  but  it 

is  not  known  what  part  of 
the  body  it  was  to  adorn.” 
The  ornament  differs  in 
technique  and  design  from 
those  discussed  previously ; 
it  is  relief-work  on  a rectan- 
gular plaque,  divided  into 
two  sections,  the  upper  one 
occupied  by  a bird’s  head, 
the  lower  one  by  a dragon’s 
head.  There  is  in  fact  no 
connection  between  the  two 
in  the  mere  technical  com- 
position, and  the  cloud-pat- 
tern is  wanting  here.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
room  for  consideration 
whether,  in  this  case  too,  a 
spiritual  relation  between 
the  two  creatures  may  be 
intended. 

As  the  last  of  his  series 
of  personal  ornaments  Wu 
Ta-ch'exg  illustrates  a piece 
of  curious  .shape,  almost  like  an  escutcheon,  labeled  ‘‘girdle-pendant 
with  cloud  patterns”  {yiin  wen  p'ei),  the  groups  of  small  spirals 
being  understood  under  the  latter  (Fig.  147).  The  lower  face  is  plain; 
there  is  a five-sided  ]ierf oration  in  the  centre.  The  object  is  made  of  a 
white  jade  with  black  stripes.  The  colloquial  name  for  it,  .says  Wu,  is 
“girdle-pendant  in  the  shape  of  a chicken’s  heart  {chi  sin  p'ei),  but  it 
is  a subject  not  yet  investigated.”  In  Chapter  \TH  we  shall  meet  a 
scries  of  ornaments  for  burial  jmrposes,  to  which  the  same  term  is 
a])])lied  in  Si-ngan  fu. 

Two  jade  implements  with  which  to  loosen  knots  {hi  or  chuei)  are 
figured  l>y  Wu  Ta-ch'exg  and  here  reproduced  in  Figs.  148  and  149, 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


239 


distinguished  as  big  and  small  one,  both  of  Shan-yuan  jade.  In  ancient 
times  they  were  made  of  horn  and  ivory,  as  indicated  by  the  composition 


Fig.  146. 

Green  Jade  Ornament  with  Design  of  Bird  and  Dragon. 


of  the  character  with  the  radical  “horn;”  but  those  of  jade  which  have 
come  down  to  us,  are  decidedly  rare,  observes  \Vu.  On  the  top  of  the 
larger  one,  a hydra  is  cut  out  a jour. 


240  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antil,  Vol.  X. 


'3K. 


These  implements  are  mentioned  as  early  as  in  the  Shi  king  (HT/ 
faig,  VI;  Legge,  Vol.  I,  ]l  103;  ed.  Couvreur,  p.  72).'  Accordinjj  to 
the  Li  ki  {\ei  Ise,  I,  2;  ed.  Couvreur,  p.  621),  every  young  gentleman 

used  to  wear  a small  one  on 
the  left  side  of  his  belt  and  a 
large  one  on  the  right  side  of 
it,  in  order  to  unloose  large  or 
.small  knots.  The  same  pair 
of  implements  was  worn  and 
used  in  the  same  way  by 
married  women  (Ibid.,  I,  3).' 
So  it  seems  that  the  large  and 
small  specimen  of  Wu  repre- 
sent such  a ])air  as  sanctioned 
by  the  rules  of  propriety  in  the 
Li  ki. 

The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  56) 
gives  a series  of  these  imple- 
ments in  the  order  of  its  usual 
paradigma.  One  is  reproduced 
in  Fig.  150,  alleged  to  be 
adorned  with  a hydra-head, 
though  it  rather  seems  to  be  a pig’s 
head.-  The  handle  is  perforated,  and 
a double  ring  is  attached  to  it  for 
suspension  from  the  girdle.  This 
object  is  made  a pre-Han.  The  next 
\Hth  a one-homed  hydra  head  is 
alleged  to  be  Han.  Then  follows,  as 
could  not  be  expected  otherwise,  the 
same  implement  with  a phenix-hcad 
in  which,  again,  the  expression  of  life 
is  extolled,  and  which  “is  a beautiful 
object  of  genuine  Han  people.”  The 
series  winds  up  with  another  phenix- 
head  specimen,  “which  is  slightly 
different  from  the  preceding  one,  but 
is  an  object  left  by  the  early  Ts'in 


Fig.  147. 

Girdle-Ornament,  with  Cloud-Pattern,  of 
White  Jade  with  Black  Stripes. 


* Legge  remarks  that  it  belonged  to  the  equipment  of  grown-up  men,  and  was 
supposed  to  indicate  their  competency  for  the  rrlanagement  of  business,  however 
intricate.  The  youth  in  the  song  who  is  ridiculed  had  assumed  it  from  vanity. 

* Here  again,  the  phraseology  of  pictorial  art  is  used  cheng  neng  ju  shettg  "fierce 
as  if  alive.’  A pig's  head  would  be  a suitable  decoration  for  this  implement,  as  in 
the  beginning  boar’s  teeth  were  employed  for  this  purpose  (compare  p.  203). 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXXI 


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Jade  Girdle-Pendants. 


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J.ADE. 


241 

period.”  Not  the  faintest  reason  is  given  for  this  chronological  defini- 
tion. For  the  rest,  the  forms  of  all  these  variants  are  just  alike,  and 
as  much  as  they  are  at  variance  with  the  two  real  specimens  of  Wu, 
they  show  a striking  resemblance  to  the  fanciful  reconstructions  in  the 
San  li  t'u  and  Leu  king  t'u  (compare  e.  g.  the  woodcut  in  Couvreur’s 
Dictionary,  p.  1 12),  so  that  they  cannot  receive  any  credit. 

I may  be  allowed  to  join  here  eight  jade  girdle-pendants  (Plate 
XXXI)  which,  though  works  of  the  eighteenth  century,  are  in  close 


Fig.  149. 

Small  Jade  Implement  to  loosen 
Knots. 


Fig.  148. 

Lari^c  Jade  Implement  to  loosen  Knots. 


historical  connection  with  the  ancient  works  and  partially  represent 
subjects  traceable  to  the  Han  period.  Therefore,  they  find  a suitable 
place  here;  they  further  illustrate  the  development  of  these  ornaments 
in  modern  times.  Figure  1 is  a carving  of  gray  jade  (3.5  cm  X 2.5  cm) 
showing  a reclining  horse  with  head  turned  back  towards  a monkey  who 
is  leaning  against  the  horse’s  neck  on  the  other  side.  In  the  illustration, 
the  monkey  is  not  visible,  being  covered  by  the  horse’s  head.  One  of 
the  peculiar  charms  of  these  ornaments  is  that  their  two  sides  often 
present  different  views.  Carried  in  the  girdle,  only  one  face  is  directed 
towards  the  looker-on  whose  curiosity  is  naturally  aroused  to  know 
what  may  be  carv’ed  on  the  opposite  face,  and  there  he  often  meets 


242  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

with  something  quite  unexpected  like  the  figure  of  a monkey.  Thus,  a 
girdle-ornament  may  attract  a person’s  attention  to  the  wearer  and 
lead  to  the  making  of  acquaintances.  The  esthetic  enjojTnent  evinced 
by  the  Chinese  over  the  sight  of  this  carvung  is  enhanced  by  a layer  of 

brown  agate-like  color  strewn 
only  over  the  opposite  side,  while 
the  front  is  of  a pure  gray -white 
tinge. 

Figure  2,  of  the  same  Plate, 
is  the  carving  of  an  elephant  (5 
cm  X 2.7  cm)  covered  with  a 
saddle-cloth  ‘ on  the  back  of 
which  the  dual  symbol  of  Yang 
and  Yin  in  a circle  is  brought 
out.  This  piece  is  almost  rec- 
tangular in  shape  and  creates  the 
impression  that  the  artist’s  first 
thought  was  not  to  carve  the 
figure  of  an  elephant,  but  that 
he  chanced  on  a piece  of  crude 
jade  of  this  shape  which  sug- 
gested to  him  the  form  of  an 
elephant.  Then  he  set  to  work 
to  solve  his  task  very  ingen- 
iously. The  animal  is  turning 
its  head  back,  i.  e.  it  is  carved 
in  high  relief  on  the  front  side  of 
the  plaque ; the  four  feet  are  cut 
out  on  the  lower  side,  as  also  in 
the  preceding  figure  of  the  horse. 
In  this  case  too,  a color  surprise 
is  brought  in;  the  surface  in  front  is  gray  in  color  framed  by  brown 
tinges,  while  the  other  side  is  entirely  imbued  with  a deep  red- 
brown  hue. 

The  carving  represented  in  Fig.  3 of  Plate  XXXI  is  a reclining  cow 
with  a young  calf  in  the  same  position  at  her  side  (4.5  cm  X 2.7  cm), 
of  the  same  jade  with  the  same  color  effects  as  in  the  two  preceding 
pieces. 

In  Fig.  4 two  goats  admirably  carved  from  one  pebble  are  peacefully 

• Such  elephants  arc  frequently  used  as  ornaments  in  the  sense  of  tribute-bearers 
with  gifts  for  the  imperial  court.  We  have  in  the  Mrs.  Blackstone  collection  sev- 
eral splendid  bronze  sets  of  the  five  sacrificial  vessels  {wu  kung)  mounted  on  elephants 
and  lions  with  an  elaborate  treatment  of  this  motive. 


(from  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u). 


I 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXXll 


1 

2 


3 

Carvings  of  Animals. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XXXll. 

Fig.  I.  Carving  of  Recumbent  Mare  and  Foal,  of  White  Jade. 
Fig.  2.  Carving  of  Lion,  of  White  Jade. 

Fig.  3.  Carving  of  Crouching  Tiger,  of  Rock-Crystal. 


243 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade. 

resting  side  by  side;  the  jade  is  also  gray  and  brown  (.size  5.7  cm  X 2.2 
cm).* 

The  carving  (6.5  cm  X 4 cm)  in  Fig.  5 represents  a drake  and  duck, 
surrounded  by  lotus-flowers  and  leaves  and  holding  the  ends  of  the 
stems  in  their  beaks.  This  design  has  its  foundation  in  a phonetic 
rebus  based  on  the  word  lien  “lotus”  written  with  the  phonetic  element 
lien  “to  connect,  join.”  The  two  ducks  are  joined  {lien)  in  partnership 
by  the  lotuses  {lien),  alluding  to  conjugal  happiness. 

In  the  carving  in  Fig.  6 two  mandarin-ducks  are  represented  swim- 
ming side  by  side,  holding  their  heads  together;  their  feet  in  the  act  of 
swimming  are  brought  out  in  flat  relief  on  the  lower  side.^  It  is  of  a 
jade  yellow-browTi  in  tinge  interspersed  with  black  patches. 

These  six  pieces  represent  animal-figures  in  plastic  execution  and 
are  all  exquisite  in  the  choice  and  workmanship  of  the  design.  They 
must  certainly  belong  to  the  sources  from  which  the  Japanese  received 
the  stimulus  for  their  Netsukc.  It  is  difficult  to  fix  a date  for  these 
carvings  with  absolute  certainty;  the  Chinese  range  them  in  the  K’ien- 
lung  period  (1736-1795  a.  d.).  They  are  certainly  not  modem  for  two 
reasons;  first,  being  made  of  a jade  material  no  longer  available,  and 
second,  being  of  a superior  workmanship  not  attained  by  any  article  of 
the  present  time. 

The  two  pendants  in  Figs.  7 and  8 of  Plate  XXXI  are  of  a different 
technique;  the  one  (7  cm  X 4-5  cm)  being  a flat  dragon  cut  out  and 
sculptured  on  both  sides  alike,  of  gray  jade;  the  other  (6.3  cm  X 3 
a thin  heart-shaped  plaque  of  the  type  chi  sin  p'ei  (see  pp.  234,  238) ; on 
the  lower  face,  the  same  escutcheon-like  figure  ® with  the  same  designs 
is  carved  as  in  Fig.  147.  On  the  upper  face,  a hydra  half  in  open-work 
and  half  in  relief  holding  this  part  in  its  mouth  gracefully  encircles  the 
plaque.  It  is  of  fine  milk-white  jade  with  a thin  layer  of  brown  patches 
in  the  upper  surface.  We  note  how  the  traditions  of  the  Han  period 
are  still  alive  and  efficient,  and  how  deeply  and  lastingly  they  must 
impress  the  minds  of  the  Chinese. 

The  three  following  carvdngs,  though  not  girdle-pendants,  may 
conclude  these  notes,  as  the  subjects  embodied  in  them  move  on  similar 
lines. 

The  three  carvings  of  animals  grouped  on  Plate  XXXII  are  used  as 
paper-weights,  if  employed  for  a practical  purpose,  and  are  good  speci- 
mens of  this  kind  of  work,  as  turned  out  in  the  K'ien-lung  epoch. 

Figure  i is  a large  carving  of  gray  jade  with  brown  spots  on  the  lower 

‘ Compare  A.  Brockhacs,  Xetsuke,  p.  438.  Brockhaus  admits  the  Chinese 
origin  of  the  Japanese  goat  Xetsuke,  since  Japan  has  neither  goats  nor  sheep. 

’ See  Laufer,  Chinese  Grave-Sculptures  of  the  Han  Period,  p.  18,  and  Plate  III. 

’ It  exactly  agrees  with  what  is  called  the  spade-shield  in  our  heraldry. 


244  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

side  (i2  an  X 6 cm)  representing  a recumbent  mare  with  her  foal,  both 
in  full  figure.  The  foal  is  trying  to  climb  on  all  fours  up  the  back  of  the 
mother  who  has  quickly  turned  her  head  towards  it  and  in  consequence 
drawm  up  her  right  leg;  it  is  just  this  sudden  moment  of  surprise  which 


ti'-,  it  3 li  ti' ) i 3,^ 

•f.  T-  vW  Jh  -tf  ^ 


Fig.  isr. 

“Jade  Horse"  on  a Han  Bas-Relief  (from  Kin-shih  so). 


the  artist  had  in  mind  to  represent,  the  mare  somewhat  scared  as  if  she 
would  ask,  What  do  you  want?  That  she  had  some  reason  to  evince 
such  a feeling  of  surprise,  the  artist  has  not  neglected  cither  to  express. 
The  young  horse  has  a halter  {lung-t'ou)  around  its  head  with  a long 
rope  attached  which  indicates  that  it  had  been  fastened  to  a stake  and 
ran  away  tearing  the  rope,  so  that  its  visit  came  somewhat  unexpectedly. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


245 


The  sculptor  has  bestowed  much  pains  on  this  little  artwork:  the 

mane,  ears,  nostrils,  feet,  hoofs,  the  bunch  of  hair  above  the  hoofs,  and 
the  tails  being  executed  with  care  and  a gleam  of  realism.  It  is  a classi- 
cal example  of  what  the  Chinese  art -philosophers  understand  by  “life’s 
motion”  (p.  21 1).  The  figure  of  a horse  of  jade  appears  as  early  as  the 
Han  period  on  the  bas-reliefs  of  Wu-liang  among  the  twenty-two 
“marvellous  objects  of  good  omen  ” (Fig.  151)  accompanied  by  the 


Fig.  152. 

Jade  Carving  of 
Recumbent  Horse 
of  the 

T’ang  Period 

(from  Ku  yii  t'u). 


inscription,  “The  jade  horse:  if  the  reigning  sovereign  is  pure  and 

intelligent  and  honors  the  worthies,  then  it  will  appear.”  '■ 

Two  interesting  jade  carvings  of  horses  are  published  in  the  Ku  yii 
t'u  (Ch.  2).  The  one  (Fig.  152)  is  entitled  “Piebald  of  black  jade,  a 
type  of  a horse  of  the  T'ang  dNTiasty,”  with  the  following  annotation: 
“In  the  period  K'ai-yiian  (713-742  a.  d.),  Wang  Mao-chung  offered 
as  tribute  five-colored  (/.  e.  varicolored)  horses  for  the  employment  in 
cavalry.  The  Emperor  Hiian-tsung  (713-755  a.  d.)  ordered  them  to 
be  represented  in  sculpture,  and  his  jade  sculptors,  taking  the  colors 
of  the  five  cavalry  regiments  as  basis,  took  these  horses  as  models  and 
carved  them  in  jade.  They  were  put  up  on  a square  table.”  This  is 
an  interesting  example  of  sculpture-modeling  after  life. 

Another  full  figure  of  a horse  with  the  sejjarate  figure  of  a man  stand- 
ing behind  it  is  illustrated  in  the  same  book  (Fig.  1 53)  and  is  also  notable 

‘Compare  Chavanses,  La  sculpture  sur  pierre  on  Chine,  p.  34. 


246  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


for  its  curious  bit  of  history.  The  horse  is  stated  to  be  of  reddish  jade,' 
the  man  of  yellow  jade;  the  horse’s  head  stands  4,%  inches  (Chinese) 
high,  its  body  4 iV  inches,  and  is  5 i'‘o  inches  long.  In  the  te.xt  it  is  stated : 
“Mane  and  tail  are  intact,  but  the  four  feet  were  broken  off.  In  the 
period  Chih-chih  (1321-1324,  Yuan  dynasty),  the  governor  of  Nan- 


hiung  (in  Kuang-tung  Province),  Chao  Po-ang  ^ possessed  an  ancient 
scroll  (with  the  picture  of  such  a horse)  which  he  exchanged  for  a porce- 
lain vessel.  The  artisan  Liu  Kia-ming  (using  this  picture  as  model) 
was  charged  with  the  task  of  supplementing  the  missing  feet.  The 
master  Yao  Mu-ngan  added  the  figure  of  a man  of  yellow  jade  to  give 
the  horse  an  assistant  in  the  way  of  an  cquery  who  has  the  appearance 

‘ “Like  rouge  with  spots  shining  like  peach-blossoms,  mixed  with  light  green.” 

^Presumably  a member  of  the  family  of  the  great  painter  Chao  M6ng-fu  (1254- 
1322).  He  was  not  an  artist  himself  as  several  others  of  the  family:  his  name  does 
not  appear  in  the  Catalogue  of  I^ainters  Li-tai  hua  shift  hui  chtian,  Ch.  47. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


247 


of  offering  the  horse  to  his  lord.”  ‘ This  revelation  throws  an  interest- 
ing light  on  that  fatal  Chinese  custom  of  restoring  and  fixing  up  frag- 
mentary objects  which  certainly  lose  a great  deal  of  their  archaeological 
value  by  such  acts  of  violence.  This  is  practised  universally  at  the 
present  time  and  admonishes  the  collector  to  use  great  caution ; and  we 
now  see  that  it  is  a time-honored  practice  too. 

In  this  connection  I may  be  allowed  by  the  way  to  sound  a warning 
to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  mediaeval  mortuary  terra-cotta 
figurines  which  have  been  unearthed  from  graves  in  large  quantities 
during  recent  years.  The  complete  finds  have  naturally  been  rare, 
and  in  most  cases  masses  of  single  heads  and  parts  of  the  body  have 
come  to  light  which  were  stuck  together  haphazardly  by  inventive 
Chinamen  or  even  completed  with  additional  clay  substances  in  the 
hope  of  an  increase  in  price  from  the  prospective  sale  to  the  foreigner. 
The  most  grotesque  monstrosities  have  originated  in  this  way,  and 
collectors  should  be  on  their  guard  for  such  “fakes,”  and  still  more 
archaeologists  before  venturing  to  base  any  conclusions  on  these  an- 
tiquities. The  addition  of  the  man  to  the  jade  figure  of  the  horse  is 
certainly  silly  and  in  contradiction  to  all  artistic  traditions,  as  there  is 
no  connection  between  the  two,  neither  by  action  nor  by  any  technical 
means;  the  ancient  artwork  has  been  degraded  into  a toy.^ 

Figure  2 on  Plate  XXXII  represents  a standing  lion,  of  white  jade 
(6.5  cm  X 4 cm),  in  the  Indian-Buddhistic  style,  nose,  brows,  mane  and 
joints  of  feet  being  represented  by  spirals.  The  head  is  elegantly 
curved  back,  which  has  become  a favorite  position  in  animals  ever 
since  the  Han  period.  In  the  open  jaws,  the  tongue,  four  fangs  and  the 
incisors  are  cut  out  with  minute  care. 

Figure  3 shows  a squatting  tiger  (9  cm  X 3 cm)  looking  backward 
carved  from  a pure  clear  rock-crystal  without  flaw.  The  spiral 

* Another  horse,  belonging  to  the  Sung  period,  is  shown  in  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u 
(Ch.  37,  p.  7).  It  is  the  full  figure  of  a standing  horse  tied  to  a post,  forming  the 
handle  of  a jade  seal  used  by  the  emperor  Hui-tsung  (i  loi-i  125  a.  d.).  The  carving 
is  ascribed  to  a certain  Wang  Yu,  and  the  editors  express  a deep  admiration  for  this 
work. 

* In  the  Bishop  collection  (Vol.  II,  p.  145)  there  is  a jade-carved  horse  called 
t'o  shu  ma  “the  horse  carrying  books”  which  is  explained  by  Bushell  as  “the  horse 
emerging  from  the  Yellow  River  with  the  nine  volumes  containing  the  nine  (?) 
mystic  diagrams.”  This  is  due  to  a confusion  with  the  legendary  dragon-horse 
{lung  ma)  carrying  a tablet  (not  books  which  were  not  then  invented)  on  which  the 
eight  diagrams  were  inscribed.  But  that  horse  is  the  famous  white  horse  (pat  ma) 
of  the  Buddhist  pilgrim  and  traveller  Hsiian  Tsang  who  is  supposed  to  have  carried 
on  its  back  his  Sanskrit  books  from  India  to  Lo-yang;  the  temple  Pai-ma  se  east  of 
the  city  of  Ho-nan  fu  is  named  for  this  horse  who  plays  a great  r61e  in  the  fantastic 
novel  St  yu  ki  and  is  familiar  to  every  visitor  of  the  Chinese  theatre.  The  drawing 
in  Bishop’s  work  conspicuously  shows  nine  Buddhistic  volumes  of  the  peculiar  oblong 
size  of  the  Tripitaka  bound  in  a wrapper  and  covered  with  a silk  cloth,  — carried 
on  the  back  of  the  horse. 


248  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

visible  in  the  illustration  is  attached  to  the  tail  hanging  over  the 
back  in  relief. 

The  inability  of  the  Chinese  for  sculpture-work  has  often  been  noted, 
and  it  is  true  that  generally  speaking  great  sculpture  and  statuary  is 
lacking  in  China.  Buddhism  is  largely  responsible  for  anything  that 
exists  in  this  line.  The  spacious  and  the  majestic  is  not  congenial  to 
the  Chinese  way  of  thinking,  while  they  approach  perfection  in  things 
minute  and  pretty.  This  is  the  element  undubitably  their  own  and, 
to  be  just,  we  must  judge  them  from  their  merits  and  accomplishments, 
not  from  supposed  drawbacks  or  from  what  does  not  come  up  to  our 
expectations.  The  lack  of  imposing  qualities  is  fully  compensated  by 
their  ingenious  technical  skill,  by  the  wonderful . thoroughness  and 
solidity  of  execution,  by  an  immense  adaptability  of  their  work  to 
decorative  intentions,  by  all  this  beauty  of  delicate  form  and  line  result- 
ing in  a microcosm  of  quaint  grace  and  taste.  And  this  beauty  is  not 
cold,  but  animated  by  a depth  and  warmth  of  colors,  — artificial  in 
jjainting  and  embroidery,  and  natural  in  stone.  Their  talent  in  the 
utilization  of  the  natural  coloring  in  jade  and  other  stones  is  the  best 
proof  of  their  highly  developed  color-sense  and  their  innate  love  of 
nature,  — a phenomenon  presumably  unique  in  the  history  of  art.  The 
subjects  chosen  for  their  dainty  carvings  betray  a s\Tn])athetic  insight 
into  the  life  of  the  animal  and  plant  world,  their  power  of  natural  ob- 
servation, and  their  faculty  of  evincing  and  expressing  good  and  noble 
sentiments,  which  rank  supreme  in  their  artistic  aspirations,  whereas 
striving  for  naturalness  is  always  subordinate  to  emotional  powers. 
And  that  these  are  not  slight  or  superficial,  but  of  a wide  cajiacity  and 
mental  depth,  we  recognized  in  the  love  emblems  of  the  Han  period 
])ortraying  the  joy  of  life,  the  horror  of  death  and  the  hope  of  a hereafter. 
Idealistic  as  this  glyptic  art  began,  it  ended  in  impressionism,  in  the 
still-life,  in  the  Stimmiingsbild.  The  artist’s  .sentiment  and  the  expres- 
sion of  his  impressions  has  become  the  leading  motive  of  art  ever  since 
the  days  of  the  Sung  period.  The  ancient  jihilosophical  and  religious 
emlilemizing  was  destroyed,  and  the  pureh'  jiersonal  artwork  arose 
with  the  sole  object  to  im{)ress  and  to  please. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


249 


3.  Ornaments  for  Headgear  and  Hair 

Ceremonial  headgear  was  utilized  to  a large  extent  during  the  Chou 
period.  The  ceremonial  cap  mien  was  surmounted  by  a rectangular 
board  (yen)  in  horizontal  position  from  which  twelve  pendants  of 
globular  jade  beads,  six  in  front  and  six  behind,  were  suspended,  strung 
on  varicolored  silk  threads.  This  headdress  was  worn  in  connection 
with  the  robe  embroidered  wdth  dragons  by  the  Son  of  Heaven,  when  he 
sacrificed  in  the  ancestral  temple.^  These  jade  pendants  are  called 
yii  tsao;  the  word  tsao  is  a general  term  for  aquatic  plants  which  is  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  classical  literature  (Bretschneider,  Botanicon 
Sinicum,  Part  II,  p.  224)  and  appears  also  as  an  ornament  embroidered 
on  the  robes  of  the  emperor  and  the  officials.  In  a similar  manner,  as 
the  word  tsao  denotes  also  an  elegant  composition,  a meaning  derived 
from  the  fine  shape  of  the  leaves  of  the  plant,  so  it  became  emblematic 
of  the  jade  pendants  gracefully  hanging  down  like  the  leaves  waving 
over  the  pond. 

Not  only  the  emperor,  but  also  the  officials  were  entitled  to  this 
cererhonial  headdress,  yet  the  number  of  pendants  was  graduated 
according  to  their  ranks.  “The  cap  of  the  Son  of  Heaven  had  twelve 
pendants  of  jade  beads  set  on  strings  hanging  down,  of  red  and  green 
silk;  that  of  feudal  princes  {chu  hou),  nine;  that  of  the  great  jircfccts 
of  the  first  class  {shang  tai  Jii),  seven;  that  of  the  great  prefects  of  the 
second  class  {hia  tai  fu),  five;  and  that  of  the  ordinary  officers  (s/iih), 
three.  In  the.se  cases,  the  ornament  was  a mark  of  distinction.”  - 
None  of  these  pendants,  as  far  as  I know,  have  survived  to  the  j)resent 
day. 

But  another  jade  ornament  is  preserved  which  \Vu  Ta-cii'eng  pre- 
sumes served  for  the  decoration  of  a headdress.  This  is  a round  flat 
button  called  k'i  (Giles  No.  1048)  which  was  sewed  on  to  the  front 
of  the  conical  leather  cap  pien,  worn  by  the  emperor  and  all  officials 
(Biot,  Vol.  II,  pp.  152,  234). 

Besides  the  two  specimens  here  figured  (Figs.  154  and  155)  Wu  giv^es 
two  plain  ones.  All  four  have  small  holes  on  the  lower  face,  three  of 

' Legge,  Li  Ki,  Vol.  II,  p.  i.  Cocvrecr,  Vol.  I,  p.  677.  In  the  illustration  on 
p.  676  and  repeated  in  his  Dictionary  on  p.  541  which  is  derived  from  the  Leu  king 
t'u,  the  beads  appear  as  strung  on  threads;  nevertheless  Cocvrecr  (Dictionnaire, 
p.  927)  speaks  of  bands  ornamented  with  embroideries  in  five  colors  and  provided 
with  pearls  of  jade. 

* Legge,  Li  Ki,  Vol.  I,  p.  400.  Cocvrecr,  Vol.  I,  p.  549.  Biot,  Vol.  II,  p.  235. 
According  to  the  regulations  of  the  ceremonial  of  the  Han,  the  Emperor  wore  a jade 
hat  with  nine  strings  of  jade  beads  hanging  down  in  front  and  behind  {yii  kuan  kiu 
Hang). 


250  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


1 


them  two,  and  only  the  one  in  Fig.  154  three  holes  which  Wu  compares 
M-ith  an  elephant’s  nostrils.  These  holes  do  not  penetrate  the  .surface, 
but  intercommunicate  beneath  it,  as  is  also  done  with  buttons  among 
us.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  shape  and  design  there  is  a certain  resem- 


Jadc  Buttons,  Upper  and  Lower  Faces. 

blance  between  these  objects  and  the  central  jiieces  of  the  girdle-pendant. 
The  jade  in  Fig.  154  is  “white  with  a black  mist,”  that  in  Fig.  155  green. 

In  regard  to  the  symbolism  of  the.sc  buttons,  the  commentator 
Cheng  K'ang-ch'eng,  who  likens  them  to  the  jade  disks  pi,  is  of  opinion 
that  the  large  ones  symbolize  the  sun  and  the  moon,  the  small  ones  the 
stars,  and  that  hence  the  single  leather  strijis  of  which  the  cap  pint  was 
sewn  together  were  called  also  “stars.”  This  explanation  is  apjiroved 
as  correct  by  Wu. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


251 


The  same  cap  pien  was  held  by  a hat-pin  of  jade  stuck  through 
it,  as  we  are  informed  by  the  Chou  li.  The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'ti  illus- 
trates a number  of  such  jade  pins  {pien  ch'ai),  but  for  lack  of  other 
com])arative  material  I am  not  prepared  to  judge  whether,  or  in  how 
far  they  are  authentic.  It  may  be  sufficient  to  reproduce  one  of  them 
in  Fig.  156,  which  is  alleged  to  come  down  from  the  Shang  or  Chou 
period.  Only  the  handle  is  decorated.  The  second  specimen  in  the 


above  work  has  a similar  handle,  and  the  pin,  hexagonal  in  section,  is 
engraved  with  a band  of  cloud-ornaments.  The  third  is  surmounted 
by  a dragon-head,  and  the  body  of  the  pin  consists  of  dragon-scales 
carved  in  open-work.  It  is  recorded  as  a special  peculiarity  of  this 
piece  that  the  jade  exhales  a natural  perfume  like  garoo-wood,  and  that, 
if  placed  on  the  head,  the  whole  house  will  be  filled  by  this  odor.  Anoth- 
er pin  is  surmounted  by  the  full  figure  of  a swallow  “whose  shape,  wings 
and  feathers  show  life’s  motion  and  arc  impressing,  as  if  alive;  but  to 


Fig.  IS7. 

Cap  showing  Wear  of  Jade  Pin.  after  Sketch  by  the  Painter  Li  Kung-lin  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 

judge  from  this  bird,  it  is  not  a Han  work.”  The  next  is  shaped  into  the 
appearance  of  a bamboo  stem,  hollow',  and  stated  to  be  a w'ork  of  the 
Tsin  or  T'ang  period.  The  la.st  is  surmounted  by  a phenix-head  and 
alleged  to  be  Han. 

In  Fig.  157  for  tw'o  reasons,  I reproduce  from  the  same  work  (Ch.  51) 
a cap  designated  as  “head-dress  of  retired  scholars”  {yin  shi/i  kuan)-, 
first,  because  it  gives  some  idea  of  how'  the  hat-pin  was  supposed  to 
have  been  used,  and  secondly,  because  this  design  is  associated  wdth  the 
name  of  the  famous  painter  Li  Kung-lin.  I shall  not  w'aste  time  in 
proving  in  detail  that  all  the  official  head-dresses  pictured  in  the  Ku 
yii  t'u  p'u  with  an  elaborate  decorative  material  and  alleged  to  be  entirely 


252 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


><T3^c 

ii)CLDC_?: 
O O 


of  jade  have  never  existed  in  this  form,  but  are  just  imaginary  sketches. 
This  one  case  may  suffice  for  all.  The  te.xt  has  it:  “I  have  formerly 
seen  a jiainting  by  Li  Kung-lin  representing  Huang-ti,  how  he  asked 
for  the  road  on  the  mountain  K'ung-t'ung  (Iluang-ii  K'ung-t'iing  wen 
lao  and  the  cap  worn  by  Huang-ti  on  this  painting  is  identical  with 
the  present  one  here  illustrated.”  This  confession  warrants  the  sus- 
picion that  this  cap  is  simply 
drawn  from  Li’s  painting  of 
Huang-ti.  The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u 
was  compiled  between  1174- 
1189;  Li  Kung-lin  or  Li  Lung- 
mien  died  in  1106  (Giles, 
Introduction  etc.,  p.  108),  and 
in  the  collection  of  the  imjier- 
ial  house  of  Sung  one  hundred 
and  seven  of  his  ^^■orks  were 
preserved.  In  the  Siian  ho 
hiia  p'u  (Ch.  7),  the  descriptive 
catalogue  of  this  collection, 
the  title  of  the  picture  in  ques- 
tion is  not  given;  it  may  have 
been  one  in  a .series. 

Another  question  would  be 
how  far  Li  Kung-lin  was  able 
to  rejiresent  faithfully  the  caji 
of  the  ancient  Huang-ti,  whether  he  followed  some  tradition  or  was 
merely  guided  by  imagination.  We  know  that  he  had  a faible  for 
antiquities,  and  that  he  well  understood  how  to  decipher  antique 
in.scriptions  (Ciiavannes,  T'oiing  Pao,  1904,  p.  496).  So  he  may  be 
credited,  at  least,  with  the  earnest  intention  of  aspiring  after  historical 
truth  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge,  though  we  may  justly  doubt  that 
he  was  in  ]jossession  of  any  palpable  authentic  material  to  serve  him 
as  a correct  standard.  At  all  events,  this  crude  sketch  is  interesting 
as  a scrap  from  the  workshop  of  that  great  artist. 

The  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  167)  mentions  the  office  of  the  jeweller  - 
at  the  court  of  the  Chou  dynasty;  he  was  in  charge  of  all  the  head -orna- 
ments used  by  the  empress:  he  made  the  bonnets  worn  by  her,  when  she 
accompanied  the  emperor  on  the  occa.sions  of  sacrifices,  and  the  wigs 


Fig.  158. 

Jade  Bonnet-Pendants  worn  by  the  Empress. 


' Compare  Chavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'icn,  Vol.  I,  p.  30. 

"^Tui  (Giles  No.  2801)  shih,  which  means  as  much  as  carver  or  engraver  of 
jade,  the  explanation  usually  adopted.  But  the  commentator  Cheng  Se-nung  inter- 
prets the  word  (in  this  case  read  chui)  as  the  designation  of  a head-dress  (kuan), 
which  seems  to  be  quite  appropriate  with  the  functions  of  this  office. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


253 


which  she  wore  in  gathering  the  leaves  of  the  mulberry-tree,  — a 
custom  that  in  view  of  this  artifice  loses  much  of  its  natural  chann; 
then  he  made  for  her  the  toupets  necessary  on  her  visits  to  the  emperor 
(false  locks  are  alluded  to  also  in  the  Shi  king:  Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  77) 
and  the  pins  for  the  bonnet  and  the  hair-pins,  both  of  jade.  The 
former  were  called  heng  ki  (Giles  No.  888)  and  were  su.spended  from 
the  two  sides  of  the  bonnet  over  the  ears, 
while  the  hair-pin  held  the  hair-dressing 
together.  In  Fig.  158,  two  such  bonnet- 
pendants  of  white  jade  are  illustrated  after 
Wu  T.-\-ch'eng  who  believes  he  is  justified 
in  this  identification ; as  added  in  the  leg- 
end to  this  Figure,  he  gives  the  word  tsan 
as  another  name  for  ki  which  is  a defini- 
tion derived  from  the  Shuo  wen.  Wu  in- 
terprets also  the  word  ki  occurring  in  the 
Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  76):  pi  ki  leu 
kid  in  the  same  sense;  they  are,  accord- 
ingly, not  hair-pins,  as  translated  by  Giles 
(No.  888).  This  passage  intimates  that 
this  pin-like  pendant  was  adorned  with  six 
gems  {kid,  Giles  No.  1146),  the  character 
being  formed  with  the  verb  kid  “to 
add”  and  therefore  explained  as  “gems 
attached.”  The  Ku  yii  t'u  (Ch.  2,  pp.  3 b, 

4 a)  pictures  two  of  these  jade  gems,  the  one  in  the  shape  of  a crescent, 
the  other  an  hexagonal  short  tube  with  two  perforations  going  through 
the  axis. 

A curious  ornament  called  t'ien  or  ch'ung  erh  {i.  e.  filling  the  ears) 
is  mentioned  in  several  passages  of  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  pp.  77,  ' 
92,  152;  Vol.  II,  p.  410).  This  was  simply  an  earring,  leaf-shaped  in 
form  (see  Fig.  159  from  Wu  Ta-ch'eng)  as  it  is  still  made  of  jadeite  in 
a similar  shape  in  Suchow  for  the  use  of  women.  In  ancient  times, 
such  earrings  were  worn  by  men,*  suspended  from  the  cap  by  means  of 
threads  of  white,  green  or  yellow  silk.  M.\o,  the  learned  commentator 
of  the  Shi  king  annotates  that  they  were  made  of  jade  for  the  Son  of 
Heaven,  of  stone  for  the  feudal  princes,  but  of  jade  again  for  all  the 
gentlemen  of  old  age.  The  symbolical  idea  underlying  this  custom  was, 
as  it  is  put,  sai  hh  “to  obstruct  the  ears,”  i.  e.  the^^  should  be  a reminder 
not  to  listen  to  bad  discourses,  and  to  shut  off  the  voice  of  evil.  Under 
the  same  name,  Wu  gives,  without  further  explanation,  four  other 

In  one  case,  they  are  attributed  to  a woman  {1.  c.,  p.  77). 


254  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

pieces  of  a different  type,  shaped  like  nails  or  spikes  with  an  ear  in  the 
top  (Fig.  i6o).  There  is  nothing  on  record  in  regard  to  the  shapes  of 
these  earrings,  and  Wu  simply  makes  a plausible  guess,  but  one  more 
satisfactory  indeed  than  the  fancifully  decorated  figure  invented  by  the 
Chinese  draughtsmen  of  later  ages  to  supply  an  illustration  of  this 
object  (figured  in  Couvreur’s  Dictionnaire,  p.  883).  We  see  more  and 
more  that  the  ornaments  of  the  earliest  times  were  plain  and  dignified. 


Fig.  160. 
Jade  Earrings. 


and  that  all  the  complicated  pretentious  designs  are  products  of  later 
ages.  Also  the  Ku  yii  I'u  (Ch.  2,  pp.  3 b and  4 a)  offers  two  designs  of 
such  earrings,  the  one  heart-shaped,  the  other  a short  tube  perforated 
longitudinally. 

Instruments  to  scratch  the  head,  worn  by  women  are  mentioned 
as  early  as  in  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  77).  It  was  a rudimentarv' 
comb,  explains  Legge,  consisting  of  a single  tooth,  and  is  said  therefore 
to  correspond  to  the  modem  comb.  Being  elegantly  made  of  ivory, 
it  was  worn  in  the  hair  as  an  ornament.  Men  wore  the  same  implement 
suspended  from  the  girdle  {Ibid.,  p.  164).  A boar’s  tooth  is  still  used 
for  this  purpose,  also  among  the  Tibetans,  and  forms  one  of  the  five 
articles  of  the  chatelaine  mentioned  above,  p.  203.  There  was  certainly 
a deep-felt  necessity  for  this  instrument  in  ancient  times  as  nowadays. ‘ 

‘ The  ancient  Chinese  also  scratched  their  heads  when  in  perplexity,  as  seen  from 
a verse  in  the  Shi  king  (Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  68). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


255 


The  modem  Chinese  back-scratcher  of  wood,  bone,  or  ivory,  a plain 
stick  surmounted  by  a hand,  is  a good  example  of  an  implement  grown 
out  of  the  projection  of  a bodily  organ.  It  has  obtained  naturalization 
in  this  country,  and  judging  from  the  large  sales  in  New  York  China- 
town, it  meets  the  demand  of  a favorite  household-article.  The  Sung 
Catalogue  of  Jades  (Ch.  76,  p.  7)  figures  two  jade  back-scratchers  {sao- 
lao),  one  plain,  the  other  with  stem  of  the  appearance  of  a bamboo  and 
surmounted  by  a plaque  carved  into  a cloud-pattem  in  the  place  of  the 
hand.  In  the  text,  such  implements  of  jade  and  bronze  are  ascribed 
to  the  Emperor  Yang  of  the  Sui  dynasty  (605-618  a.  d.),  and  the  two 
pieces  in  question  are  stated  to  be  antiquities  of  the  Sui  or  T'ang  period. 
This  may  be  true,  as  far  as  jade  carvings  are  concerned;  but  the  imple- 
ment itself  is  much  older  and  doubtless  as  old  as  the  Chinese  nation 
itself.' 

•The  Eskimo  make  use  of  a back-scratcher  called  kumakssium  {lit.  “instrument 
used  against  lice”),  a long,  slightly  curved  piece  of  bone  with  a piece  of  bear-fur 
on  the  end  (A.  L.  Kroeber,  The  Eskimo  of  Smith  Sound,  Bull.  .-Im.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  Vol.  XII,  1900,  p.  289). 


256  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X 


4.  Jade  Clasps 

In  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  59)  a number  of  jade  ornaments  are 
illustrated,  rectangular  in  shape,  and  with  a long  loop,  rectangular  in 
section,  attached  to  the  back  (Fig.  161);  these  are  interpreted  as  wet, 
i.  e.  as  decorations  placed  on  the  top  of  a sword-scabbard  to  fasten  it 
to  the  girdle  by  this  means.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  this  mode 
of  use  is  impossible,  and  that  this  explanation,  also  given  in  the  Ku  yii 
I'll  (Ch.  2,  p.  9),  is  erroneous.  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  has  not  failed  to  correct 
this  mistake  in  his  book,  and  to  define  these  objects  justly  as  plain 
girdle-clasps  {suei,  Giles  No.  10407).  But  even  without  this  authori- 
zation of  a competent  Chinese  critic,  commonsense  could  lead  us  to  no 
other  result.  The  word  suei  is  very  old  and  occurs  as  early  as  in  the 
Shi  king;^  it  is  defined  in  the  Erh  ya,  but  not  in  the  Shuo  wht.  Wu  is 
presumably  also  right  in  making  out  that  this  clasp  was  employed  in 
connection  with  leather  belts  which  passed  through  the  loop  on  the  back, 
— I suppose  in  such  a way  that  the  end  of  the  belt  was  drawn  through 
the  loop  and  then  tightly  sewed  on  in  a seam  running  parallel  with  the 
long  side  of  the  loop.  The  clasp  was  accordingly  closely  attached  to 
this  end  of  the  belt  and  remained  in  the  centre  hanging  down  in  a vertical 
position;  while  the  other  end  of  the  belt  was  fastened,  probably  by  means 
of  metal  hooks,  to  the  upper  and  lower  ends  of  tfe  clasp  curved  inward 
and  grooved.^  Or,  it  could  be  imagined  that  to  this  end  of  the  belt 
two  metal  plaques  were  attached  by  means  of  hinges,  one  above,  the 
other  below,  corresponding  in  size  to  the  spaces  above  and  below  the 
loop  on  the  clasp,  and  that  these  plaques  were  slipped  in  there  and  held 
between  the  grooves.  At  all  events,  this  can  be  supposed  only,  as 
there  is  no  account  extant  illustrating  the  mode  of  wear.  Certain  it 
is  — and  also  Wu  exjiressly  insists  on  it  — that  these  clasps  were  wom 
jiendent  in  a vertical  position  as  they  are  here  reproduced.  This  is 
evidenced  by  the  loop  and  further  by  the  way  in  which  the  ornaments 
are  arranged;  note  the  animal-heads  on  the  top  looking  downward  on 
Plate  XXXIII. 

The  most  interesting  point  with  reference  to  these  clasps  is  that  they 

* Legge,  Vol.  II,  p.  355.  Legge  missed  the  right  meaning  of  the  word  by  trans- 
lating; “If  we  give  them  long  girdle-pendants  with  their  stones,  they  do  not  think 
them  long  enough,”  which  does  not  make  sense.  The  meaning  is,  if  we  give  them 
long-shaped  jade  clasps  for  their  girdles,  they  find  fault  with  them  as  to  the  length  of 
their  loops,  since  indeed  this  clasp  was  useless,  unless  it  fitted  the  belt.  Couvrecr 
(p.  265)  has  the  same  mistranslation.  Giles:  jewel’s  or  ornaments  hung  at  the  girdle. 

’ In  one  specimen  delineated  in  the  Ku  yii  t'u  (Ch.  2,  p.  12  a)  the  upper  and  lower 
ends  are  provided  with  angular  projections  to  which  it  would  have  been  possible  to 
fasten  the  belt  by  means  of  cord  or  hooks. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


257 


represent  original  jade  types  and  are  not  imitated  in  jade  from  models 
in  metal.  No  types  corresponding  to  them  in  bronze  have  ever  been 
found,  as  is  the  case  wdth  the  jade  buckles  to  be  discussed  hereafter. 


Jade  Girdle-Clasp.  Front  and  Back  (from  Kn  yu  i'u  p*u). 

.1  priori  we  might  infer  from  this  that  it  is  a type  of  considerable  an- 
tiquity; but  from  an  historical  viewpoint  this  is  not  the  case.  \Vu 
does  not  discuss  the  question  of  age;  the  older  works  make  these  objects 


258  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


Han.  The  specimens  in  my  collection  are  all  of  the  Han  period,  judging 
from  material,  technique  and  ornamentation.  So  I am  inclined  to 


Fig.  162.  Fig.  163. 

Jade  Girdle-Clasp,  suet.  White  Jade  with  Red  Girdle-Clasp  of  White  Jade. 

Spots  all  over  and  a Zone  of  Inserted 
Clayish  Matter. 

believe  that  the  type  itself  is  not  older  than  this  epoch,  and  that  its 
formation  may  be  credited  to  the  Han. 

The  colloquial  name  by  which  this  o'mament  is  still  known  in 
Si-ngan  fu  is  chao  wen  lai,  a term  mentioned  also  by  Wu  Ta-ch'eng  with 
the  note  tliat  it  is  ijresumably  an  old  designation  whose  origin,  however. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


Jade  Clasps  of  the  han  Period. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


259 


is  not  known.  Prof.  Giles  (No.  473)  registers  this  phrase  with  the 
translation  “a  pouch,  slung  over  the  shoulders,  for  carrying  despatches 
etc.”  (compare  chao  hui  ‘‘official  despatch”).  It  may  be  that  such 
or  a similar  idea  (“a  girdle  ornament  used,  or  authorizing  the  bearer 
to  carry  official  documents”)  was  instrumental  in  causing  the  people 
to  transfer  this  expression 
to  the  ancient  girdle-clasps 
the  proper  use  of  which 
they  no  longer  understood. 

Or  the  name  may  have 
arisen  out  of  a confusion 
with  the  ch'ao  tai,  the  court 
girdles  of  jade  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty. 

From  Wu’s  collection  of 
eight  specimens,  four  have 
been  selected  (Figs.  162- 
165)  to  show  the  identity 
in  style  and  make-up  with 
those  in  our  collection.  It 
should  be  remarked  that 
these  drawings  are  incor- 
rect from  our  point  of  view ; 
if,  as  here,  the  side-view 
wdth  the  loop  is  showm,  the 
full  \dew  of  the  surface  can- 
not appear  at  the  same 
time,  but  it  must  naturally 
be  shortened  according  to 
the  laws  of  perspective.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  sur" 
face  is  illustrated  as  on  our 
Plate  XXXIII,  the  loop  on  the  back  naturally  remains  invisible.  Despite 
this  obvious  misrepresentation,  I believed  I should  retain  these  sketches, 
because  in  their  method  they  are  so  characteristic  of  Chinese  drawing, 
and  because  they  will  afford  some  idea  of  the  appearance  of  the  sec- 
tions of  these  pieces.  And,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  I have  reason  to 
insist  on  the  perfect  identity  of  Wu’s  specimens  wdth  my  own. 

In  our  collection  there  are  six  such  jade  clasps  of  the  Han  period, 
grouped  on  Plate  XXXIII,  representing  five  different  kinds  of  jade, 

2 and  3 being  of  the  same  light  gray.  The  clasp  in  Fig.  i (11.7  cm  X 

3 cm)  is  light  green  in  color  with  layers  of  brownish-red.  It  is  decorated 


Fig.  164. 

Girdle-Clasp  of  White 
Jade. 


26o  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


with  what  is  called  the  millet-pattern,  — twenty-one  rows  of  alternately 
five  and  six  knobs  forming  horizontal  and  diagonal  lines.  The  figure  in 
slight  relief  on  the  upper  end  may  be  a conventionalized  t'ao-t'ieh  head. 
The  pieces  in  2 and  3 (7.3  cm  X 2.2  cm)  differ  only  slightly  except  that 
No.  3 is  filled  to  a greater  extent  with  clay  matter.  On  both,  the 


Fig.  165. 

Girdle-Clasp  of  White  Jade  with  Light- Red  Tinge. 


motive  “the  hydra  watching  its  young  one’’  is  brought  out  in  high 
undercut  relief.'  The  three  following  pieces  (8.2  cm  X 2.2  cm,  8 cm  X 
1.9  cm,  6.8  cm  X i-7  cm)  are  all  engraved  with  spiral  bands  and  some 
conventional  design  at  the  top  whieh  is  in  Fig.  5 a well  outlined  monster’s 
head  with  two  projecting  fangs.  (Compare  Fig..  164.)  The  jade 

* The  same  motive  is  represented  also  on  two  girdle-clasps  illustrated  by  \Vu 
Ta-ch'6ng  (one  of  them  reproduced  in  Fig.  162)  and  on  one  in  the  Ku  yii  t'u. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


261 


in  Fig.  4 is  light-green  with  purple  clouds;  that  in  Fig.  5 is  white  with 
brown-red  jiatches  in  the  lower  end  and  on  the  back;  ‘ that  in  Fig.  6 
is  black  with  a few  white  spots. 

The  various  dimensions  of  the  loops  on  the  backs  of  these  pieces 
show  that  belts  varied  much  in  width.  As  the  length  of  these  openings 
indicates  the  width  of  the  girdle,  we  have  girdles  of  4.7,  2.6,  2.5, 
2.8,  3.1,  and  1.8  cm  in  wddth,  which  may  be  accounted  for  by  assigning 
them  to  men,  women  and  children  according  to  size. 

If  we  now  glance  back  at  Fig.  161  derived  from  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u, 
we  shall  notice  that  this  piece  is  in  many  respects  at  variance  with 
those  published  by  Wu  and  me.  First,  technically,  the  loop  occupies 
only  a small  strip  in  the  centre  of  the  back,  while  in  our  pieces  it  extends 
over  the  whole  width  of  the  clasp;  the  two  projections  at  the  ends,  as 
here  drawn,  do  not  occur  in  any  of  our  pieces.  There  is  not  only  no 
sense  and  purpose  in  them,  but  also,  as  they  are  visible  on  the  front, 
they  disfigure  the  artistic  unity  and  impression  of  the  object,  and  it  may 
be  boldly  stated  that  no  artist  of  the  Han  period  could  have  been  guilty 
of  such  an  absurd  breach  of  good  taste.  In  regard  to  dccoraticn,  it  is 
curious  that  it  is  divided  into  two  fields  by  a central  zone,  and  that  each 
field  winds  up  with  an  animal’s  head,  the  upper  one  looking  upward, 
the  lower  one  downward,  the  two  looking  away  from  each  other.  This 
arrangement  is  so  inartistic  that  certainly  no  Han  artist  has  conjured 
it  up.  Now  if  all  these  absurdities  would  occur  in  just  this  one  piece, 
one  might  pass  over  the  matter  in  silence  \rith  a forgiving  spirit;  but 
exactly  the  same  folly  is  repeated  in  five  other  pieces,  — the  same  loop, 
the  same  prongs,  the  same  division  of  ornaments,  and  the  same  heads, 
while  not  one  normal  specimen  is  reproduced.  And  in  this  creation  the 
Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  stands  alone.  The  seven  specimens  illustrated  in  the 
Ku  yii  t'u,  the  appendix  to  the  Po  ku  t'u,  are  of  exactly  the  same  style 
as  those  of  Wu  and  my  own.  Since  that  work  is  known  to  us  as  un- 
reliable and  teeming  wfith  fictitious  matter  and  late  productions,  not 
to  use  such  a harsh  word  as  forgeries,  we  shall  not  err  in  declining  to 
see  in  those  girdle-clasps  works  of  the  Han  period  for  which  they  are 
given  out;  they  may  have  been  made  under  the  Sung,  if  ever  made  at 
all,  — as  such  a specimen  has  never  turned  up,  — unless  simply  drawn 
from  hearsay,  or  as  an  attempt  at  traditionary  reconstruction. 

' This  jade  is  called  “red  jade  of  the  Han  dynasty”  {hung  Han  yii).  The  speci- 
men in  question  was  found  in  the  village  Wan-ts'un  west  of  Si-ngan  fu. 


262  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axth.,  Vol.  X. 


5.  Jade  Buckles 

Among  the  jade  relics  of  the  Han  period,  there  are  also,  buckles 
{koii)  for  the  belt  of  a gracefully  curved  shape,  at  the  top  always  pro- 
vided with  some  animal-head  turned  over  and  looking  downward,^  and  at 
the  back  with  a projecting  stud  which  was  either  stuck  like  a collar- 
button  into  a slit  of  the  belt  or  slipped  under  a metal  ring  fastened  to 
the  belt.  An  idea  of  their  general  appearance  will  be  best  gained  from 
Figs.  166  and  167  reproducing  two  specimens  in  Wu’s  collection;  the 
one  is  of  white  jade  with  “a  yellow  mist,”  the  other  of  uniformly  white 
jade.  \Vu  has  appended  no  discussion  to  this  type,  since  it  is  generally 
known  to  Chinese  archa;ologists.  It  has  survived  until  the  present 
day,  and  pieces  similar  to  the  Han  models,  though  much  clumsier  and 
far  from  reaching  their  beauty,  aside  from  the  inferior  glassy  modem 
material,  are  still  turned  out.  The  gulf  separating  the  Han  from  the 
modem  buckles  is  so  deep  that,  at  first  sight,  the  two  can  be  distin- 
guished. 

Two  jade  girdle-buckles  of  the  Han  period  are  represented  on  Plate 
XXXIV^,  Figs.  I and  2.  The  one  (8.5  cm  X i-8  cm)  of  gray  jade  with 
moss-green  and  black  layers  is  surmounted  by  a well  carv'ed  horse-head 
looking  downward,  while  from  below,  a monkey  seizing  a bee  in  its  right 
forepaw  is  crawling  upward  towards  the  horse.  ^ 

The  other  piece  in  Fig.  2 (7.8  cm  X 2.3  cm)  of  white  and  brown-red 
jade  terminates  in  a dragon’s  head  with  two  long  horns.  A hydra  is 
cut  out  in  high  relief  on  the  surface.^ 

A number  of  bronze  buckles  of  the  same  type  are  in  our  collection, 
one  of  which  is  selected  here  for  comparison  with  the  jade  types,  in 

'The  lower  end  opposite  this  head  is  called  “the  tail”  {wei). 

“The  monkey  with  the  bee  {fing  hou)  is  usually  a rebus  with  the  meaning 
“to  bestow  on  one  the  investiture  (.fing)  of  a vassal  prince  {hou)  ” (compare  Grube, 
Zur  Pekinger  Volkskunde,  p.  95).  Neither  the  cause  for  the  association  of  the 
monkey  with  the  horse,  nor  the  meaning  of  the  word  ma  “horse"  with  reference  to 
the  rebus,  are  known.  The  proverb  quoted  by  Giles  (under  ma)  may  be  called 
to  mind:  “The  heart  is  like  a monkey,  thought  like  a horse,”  — for  restlessness  and 

speed.  Pictures  of  monkeys  are  sometimes  presented  to  candidates  where  hou  “the 
monkey”  is  read  hou  “to  expect”  scil.  an  office.  Perhaps  the  significance  of  the 
above  rebus  was:  “May  you  obtain  office  or  rank  with  the  speed  of  a horse!” 

or  “Quick  promotion  in  the  race  for  office!”  or  something  like  this. 

“The  same  type  is  pictured  in  the  Ku  yii  I'u  (Ch.  i,  p.  ii)  and  ascribed  to  the 
Han  period.  The  following  buckle,  also  with  a dragon-head,  is  without  any  reason 
dated  in  the  Shang  dynasty,  which  is  absurd.  The  third  is  placed  in  the  San-lai 
(t.  e.  Hia,  Shang,  Chou)  period;  it  has  a hydra’s  head,  and  is  further  described  to 
bear  on  the  “tail”  (end)  a tiger's  head  and  body  dragging  along  its  feet  a monkey, 
which  is  not  shown  in  the  illustration.  The  fourth  buckle  is  even  made  an  object 
prior  to  the  San-tai\  it  is  provided  with  a horse-head  like  ours  in  Fig.  i,  Plate  XXXIV, 
and  it  is  curious  in  that  it  terminates  in  a hydra’s  head  at  the  other  end, — the  only 
piece  with  double  head  that  is  known  to  me. 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXXIV. 


Buckles  of  the  han  period, 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


263 


Fig.  3 (11.3  cm  X 2.1  cm).  It  is  cast  of  solid  bronze,  surmounted  by 
a hydra-head ; the  surface  is  incrusted  with  silver  wire  forming  a geomet- 
ric decoration  of  lozenges  and  spirals.  There  are  others  of  exactly  the 
same  shape  as  the  jade  pieces,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  latter 


have  been  derived  from  the  former. 


Fig.  166. 

Buckle  of  White  Jade  with  Yellow  Mist, 
Back  and  Front. 


In  their  elegant  curve,  they  were 


Fig.  167. 

White  Jade  Buckle.  Side  and  Front. 


well  adapted  to  metal  casting;  carving  and  grinding  them  in  jade  was 
a task  of  toil  and  trouble.  This  technical  consideration  is  confirmed 
by  the  written  s\-mbol  of  the  word  kou  which  is  united  with  the  radical 
kin  “metal.”  In  case  of  a real  jade  type,  we  should  certainly  expect 
to  see  the  radical  yii  “jade.” 

In  early  times,  this  girdle-buckle  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in 
existence.  The  word  kou  occurs  three  times  in  the  Shi  king  (Legge, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  285,  538,  547),  but  there  it  denotes  in  each  case  a hook  for 
the  trappings  of  the  breast-bands  of  a horse.  This  would  have  an 
interesting  bearing  on  the  question  why  a horse’s  head  is  represented 
in  several  of  these  buckles,  if  it  could  be  unquestionably  established  that 


264  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — An'th.,  Vol.  X. 

it  was  only  an  equine  ornament  in  its  origin  and  later  transferred  from 
the  horse  to  the  man,  with  the  idea  perhaps  of  imparting  to  him  the 
strength  and  alacrity  of  the  animal.  This  supposition,  however,  re- 
mains hypothetical,  though  it  may  be  suggestive.  It  would  form  a 
notable  analogy  to  the  wearing  of  nose-rings  by  men,  supposed  to  be 
derived  from  buffalo’s  nose-rings  to  instill  the  buffalo’s  strength  into 


Fig.  168. 

Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  the  Motive  “Mantis  catching  the  Cicada”  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


the  body  of  man  (see  Laufer,  Anneaux  nasaux  en  Chine,  T'oung  Pao, 
1905.  PP-  321-323)- 

The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Chs.  57  and  58)  offers  several  interesting  jade 
buckles  which  may  presumably  lay  claim  to  authenticity.  The  one 
represented  in  Fig.  168  in  two  \-iews  is  explained  to  symbolize  the  motive 
“the  pra>nng-mantis  (mantis  religiosa)  catching  the  cicada.”  The  man- 
tis * forms  the  head  of  the  buckle;  the  cicada  is  carved  on  the  tail  in 

* T'ang-lang.  The  character  here  written  t'ang  (Giles  No.  10774)  should  proper- 
ly be  written  with  No.  107C2. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


265 

relief  (one  tenth  of  a Chinese  inch  high).  The  text  to  this  illustration 
recalls  the  story  of  Ts'ai  Yung  (133-192  a.  d.)  ‘ of  the  Han  dynasty 
who  was  once  invited  to  a party,  and  on  reaching  the  house,  heard  the 
sound  of  a lute  played  inside.  It  was  a tune  to  a war-song  expressing 
a‘  desire  for  murder.  Ts'ai,  for  fear  of  being  killed,  at  once  returned. 
The  host  and  his  guests  pursued  him,  and  when  questioned,  Ts'ai  gave 
the  reason  for  his  retreat.  The  guests  .said:  “When  you  approached, 
we  seized  the  lute,  as  we  noticed  on  a tree  in  the  courtyard  a mantis 
trying  to  catch  a cicada;  three  times  the  mantis  had  reached  it,  and 
three  times  it  failed  in  its  attack.  We  feared  that  the  mantis  might 
miss  the  cicada  (and  therefore  played  the  warlike  tune).”  Ts'ai  was 
thus  set  at  ease.  The  author  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  adds  that  the  sig- 
nificance of  this  story  escapes  him,  but  supposes  that  the  application 
of  this  design  to  the  buckle  is  derived  from  it,  the  meaning  underljdng 
it  being  “murder.”  This  may  be  correct  in  general,  though  I do  not 
believe  that  the  design  in  question  must  be  traced  back  to  just  that 
particular  stor>'. 

This  story  as  well  as  this  design  are  the  outcome  of  popular  notions 
regarding  the  mantis  which  is  looked  upon  as  a formidable  w'arrior  and 
endowed  with  great  courage.  The  habits  of  the  mantis  are  well  known: 
the  so-called  flower-mantis  in  tropical  regions  resembles  the  flowers  of 
certain  plants,  and  in  these  flowers  it  lurks  awaiting  smaller  insects 
upon  which  it  feeds.  What  we  term  the  “praying”  attitude  of  the 
mantis  in  which  its  knees  are  bent  and  the  front -legs  supported  on  a 
stem,  is  nothing  but  this  lynng  in  ambush  for  other  insects.  Good 
observers  of  nature,  the  ancient  Chinese  were  very  familiar  with  its 
peculiar  traits;  they  called  it  “the  insect -killer ” {sha  ch'ung)  or  “the 
heavenly  horse”  {I'ien  ma)  from  its  speed,  and  greatly  admired  its 
bravery.^  Its  eagerness  to  catch  cicadas  is  repeatedly  emphasized,  and 
above  all,  immortalized  by  the  famous  story  of  the  philosopher  Chuang- 
tse. 

“When  Chuang-tse  was  wandering  in  the  park  at  Tiao-ling,  he  saw  a 
strange  bird  which  came  from  the  south.  Its  wings  were  seven  feet  across. 
Its  eyes  were  an  inch  in  circumference.  And  it  flew  close  past  Chuang- 
tse 's  head  to  alight  in  a chestnut  grove.  ‘What  manner  of  bird  is  this?’ 
cried  Chuang-tse.  ‘With  strong  wings  it  does  not  fly  away.  With 
large  eyes  it  does  not  see.’  So  he  picked  up  his  skirts  and  strode  towards 
it  with  his  crossbow,  anxious  to  get  a shot.  Just  then  he  saw  a cicada 
enjoying  itself  in  the  shade,  forgetful  of  all  else.  And  he  saw  a mantis 
spring  and  seize  it,  forgetting  in  the  act  its  own  body,  which  the  strange 

* Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  753.  ‘ 

® Compare  the  Chinese  drawing  of  the  mantis  in  Fig.  169. 


266  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


Fig.  169. 

The  Praying-Mantis  I'ang-lang  (from  5aii  Is'ai  t'u  hui,  edition  of  1607). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


267 


bird  immediately  pounced  upon  and  made  its  prey.  And  this  it  was 
which  had  caused  the  bird  to  forget  its  own  nature.  ‘Alas!’  cried 
Chuang-tse  with  a sigh,  ‘how  creatures  injure  one  another.  Loss  follows 
the  pursuit  of  gain.’  ” ‘ 

Surely,  this  pretty  allegorical  stor)’  has  impressed  the  minds  of  the 
Chinese  people  deeper  than  the  insipid  account  regarding  Ts'ai  Yung; 
and  the  Han  artists,  it  is  more  credible,  drew  on  Chuang-tse  as  the  source 
for  the  motive  of  the  mantis  struggling  with  the  cicada.  Also  Giles 
comments  in  his  translation:  “This  episode  has  been  widely  popu- 

larised in  Chinese  every-day  life.  Its  details  have  been  expressed 
pictorially  in  a roughly-executed  woodcut,  with  the  additiofi  of  a tiger 
about  to  spring  upon  the  man,  and  a well  into  which  both  will  eventually 
tumble.  A legend  at  the  side  reads,  — All  is  Destiny!”  And  in  this 
thought,  I believe,  we  should  seek  also  the  explanation  of  the  motive 
on  the  Han  jade  buckle.  Certainly,  it  does  not  mean  such  a banality 
as  that  frigid  “kill!”  intimated  by  the  philistine  scribbler  of  the  Ku  yii 
t'u  p'u,  but  it  was  a memento  mori  to  admonish  its  wearer:  “Be  as 

brave  as  the  mantis,  fear  not  your  enemy,  but  remember  your  end,  as 
also  the  undaunted  mantis  will  end!” 

In  another  passage  Chuang-tse  exclaims:  “Don’t  you  know  the 

story  of  the  praying-mantis?  In  its  rage  it  stretched  out  its  arms  to 
prevent  a chariot  from  passing,  unaware  that  this  was  beyond  its 
strength,  so  admirable  was  its  energy!  ” ^ This  is  an  allusion  to  another 
famous  stoiA'  contained  in  the  Ilan  shih  wai  chuan,  a work  by  Han  Ying 
who  flourished  between  b.  c.  178-156.  It  is  there  narrated;  “When 
Duke  Chuang  of  Ts'i  (b.  c.  794-731)  once  went  ahunting,  there  was  a 
mantis  raising  its  feet  and  seizing  the  wheel  of  his  chariot.  He  ques- 
tioned his  charioteer  as  to  this  insect  who  said  in  reply:  ‘ This  is  a 

mantis;  it  is  an  insect  who  knows  how  to  advance,  but  will  never  know 
how  to  retreat ; without  measuring  its  strength,  it  easily  offers  resistance.’ 
The  Duke  answered:  ‘ Truly,  if  it  were  a man,  it  would  be  the  cham- 
pion-hero of  the  empire.’  Then,  he  turned  his  chariot  to  dodge  it,  and 
this  act  won  him  all  heroes  to  go  over  to  his  side.”  * 

Figure  170  represents  a jade  buckle  adorned  with  the  head  of  what  is 
apparently  a ^vild  sheep  or  antelope.  The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  entitles  it  with 
the  curious  name  shang  yang  “which  in  form  is  like  a sheep  and  pos- 

* Giles,  Chuang  Tzu,  Mystic,  Moralist,  and  Social  Reformer,  p.  258  (London, 
1889). 

* Giles,  1.  c.,  p.  49. 

’Compare  Ko  chih  king  yiian,  Ch.  100,  p.  2.  Petillon,  Allusions  litt^raires, 
p.  385  (Shanghai,  1898).  Lockhart,  A Manual  of  Chinese  Quotations,  p.  335. 
Pfizmaier,  Denkwiirdigkeiten  von  den  Insecten  China’s,  p.  373  {Sitzungsberichte 
der  Wiener  Akademie,  1874). 

< Giles  (No.  9738)  explains  the  word  “a  one-legged  bird,  said  to  portend  rain, 
and  imitated  by  children  hopping  about.” 


268  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

sessed  with  one  hom ; when  it  appears,  there  will  be  a heavy  rainfall.” 
And  therefore  the  inference  is  that  the  ornament  of  this  buckle  implies 
the  idea  of  “moisture.”  In  my  opinion  this  shang  yang  is  identical 
with  the  ling  yang  ^ {antelope  caudata)  and  means  “sheep  of  Shang-chou,” 
the  city  in  Shensi;  for  in  the  T'u  king  pen  ts'ao  by  Su  Sung  of  the  Sung 
period  it  is  expressly  stated  that  this  antelope  {ling  yang)  occurs  in  the 

mountains  of  Shang-chou.^  Transparent  lan- 
terns are  still  manufactured  in  Peking  from  the 
horns  of  this  antelope  sliced  into  thin  pieces 
which,  after  having  been  soaked  in  water  for 
some  weeks,  are  joined  together.  Evidently, 
in  the  application  of  the  ling-yang  on  the 
buckle,  a rebus  is  intended  by  way  of  punning 
with  ling  (Giles  No.  7218)  “old  age,”  for 
which  at  present  the  more  popular  fungus  of 
immortality  {ling  chih)  is  used;  this  seems 
more  plausible  than  the  suggested  allusion  to 
rain. 

In  Fig.  1 7 1,  the  head  is  explained  as  that 
of  the  fabulus  animal  p'i-sieh\  this  term  means 
also  “to  ward  off  evil  spirits”  in  the  sense  of  a 
talisman  and  “to  avoid  evil  thoughts,”  so  that 
its  presence  here  might  express  an  admonition 
and  protection  to  the  bearer  (compare  Ch.  X 
and  Fig.  195).  A coiled  hydra  is  engraved  on 
the  body.  The  date  is  given  as  that  of  the 
Han  period. 

The  head  in  the  buckle  of  Fig.  172  is  said 
to  be  that  of  the  t'ien-lu,  an  animal  of  lucky 
foreboding  in  the  Han  palace.® 

Three  other  illustrations  may  be  added  for  the  sake  of  the  art -histor- 
ical interest  in  the  types  of  the  dragon  and  phenix.  The  belt-buckle  in 
Fig.  173  is  surmounted  by  a peculiar  dragon-head.  “All  over  the 
body  it  is  covered  with  fish-scales,  and  the  dragon’s  form  in  its  weird, 
wriggling  motion  is  as  sublime  as  the  kind  of  dragons  painted  by  Chang 
Seng-}!!.”  The  latter  was  a famous  painter  of  Buddhist  subjects, 
living  under  the  Liang  dynasty  in  the  first  part  of  the  sixth  centur\', 

‘ Giles  No.  7208. 

* Quoted  in  Hing-ngan  fii  chi,  Ch.  1 1,  p.  16. 

’ T'ien-lu  was  also  the  name  of  a pavilion  north  of  the  Han  palace  Wei-yang, 
which  contained  the  archives.  Giles  explains  it  as  a fabulous  creature  like  a deer 
with  one  horn,  placed  on  the  top  of  columns  at  the  graves  of  officials  of  the  third 
rank. 


Head  of  Antelope 
(from  Ku  yii  t*u  p'u). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


269 


and  made  a specialty  of  dragons.*  None  of  his  works  have  survived, 
but  as  a number  of  them  were  still  preserved  in  the  gallery  of  the  Em- 
peror Hui-tsung,  the  authors  of  the  Ku  yii  t'li  p'lt  were  placed  in  a 
position  to  be  acquainted  udth  his  style.  And  it  is  interesting  that  they 
point  out  to  us  in  the  dragon  of  this  jade  buckle  a ty])e  of  dragon  in  the 


Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  pH-sieh 
(from  Ku  yii  t'u  P*u). 


Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  the 
Animal  tUen-lu  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


style  of  that  great  artist.  We  doubtless  meet  here  the  Indian  type  of 
dragon  which  Chang  had  received  from  India  with  his  other  Buddhistic 
motives.  If  the  authors  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  are  correct  in  their  observa- 
tion, the  inference  would  naturally  be  to  date  this  jade  buckle  in  the 
sixth  century  a.  d. 

It  is  therefore  a matter  of  surj^rise  to  see  the  dragon -buckle  in  the 
next  Fig.  174  dated  in  the  first  years  of  the  Ea.stem  Han  (Tung  Han 

•Giles,  An  Introduction  to  the  Histor>’ of  Chinese  Pictorial  Art,  pp.  29-31; 
Hikth,  Scraps  from  a Collector’s  Note  Book,  pp.  59-61. 


270  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


ch'u  nien)  which  would  refer  to  a period  from  25  to  about  30  a.  d.,  for 
also  this  dragon-head,  though  not  identical  with,  but  differing  in  style 
from,  the  preceding  one,  savors  of  Buddhistic  influence.  Also  in  this 
case,  the  editors  intimate  a pictorial  undercurrent,  at  least  in  regard  to 
the  pattern  of  “rolled  clouds,”  of  which  they  say  that  “it  is  sublime 
like  painting”  {yen  ju  t'li  hua).  I think  they  are  quite  right,  for  it  is 


Fig.  173. 

Ancient  Jade  Buckle,  with  Dragon-Head  in  the  Style  of  the  Painter  Chang  SSng-yu  of  the  Sixth 

Century  (from  Ku  yil  I'u  p'u). 


indeed  the  cloud-pattern  as  it  occurs  in  the  Buddhist  painting  of  the 
T'ang  period.  But  if  this  st\de  has  sprung  from  pictorial  art,  it  seems 
also  likely  that  the  dragon-head  has  the  same  origin,  for  it  is  a uniform 
composition:  the  dragon  soaring  in  the  clouds,  as  the  motive  of  the 
preceding  composition  is  the  scaly  dragon.  I should  therefore  make  the 
piece  in  question  not  earlier  than  the  age  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  though 
it  must  be  admitted  that  it  may  even  go  as  far  down  as  the  Sung  jjeriod. 
In  such  doubtful  cases,  it  is  best  to  indicate  the  date  simply  as  mediaeval. 

Such  a mediaeval  object  is  surely  also 'the  buckle  in  Fig.  175  sur- 
mounted by  the  head  of  a bearded  phenix  with  cloud-shaped  crest. 
In  this  case,  the  date  is  established  as  between  the  Tsin  and  Sung  (/.  e. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


271 


Liu  Sung)  dynasties,  a period  between 
the  end  of  the  third  and  the  end  of  the 
fifth  centuries,  in  the  Chinese  text.  The 
geometric  feather-ornament  on  the  body 
of  the  buckle  is  of  special  interest,  as  it, 
too,  displays  pictorial  influence ; the  Chin- 
ese editors  make  a ven^  slight  allusion  to 
this  point  readable  between  the  lines  by 
remarking  that  the  head,  crest  and 
plumes  of  the  phenix  are  represented  “as 
if  alive”  {jii  sheng).  Now  we  know  that 
this  is  one  of  the  stock-phrases  of  Chinese 
esthetics  of  painting,  and  the  artists  who 
worked  on  the  drawings  of  the  Ku  yii  I'li 
p'u  were  fully  impregnated  with  this 
phraseology.  I have,  for  this  reason, 
introduced  Fig.  176,  a jade  buckle  with 
a horse’s  head  and  a coiled  hydra,  be- 
cause they  here  avail  themselves  of  the 
term  sheng  lung  “life’s  motion”  ^ with 
reference  to  the  wriggling  motions  of  the 
monster,  the  application  of  this  term  to 
the  motive  in  question  being  very  in- 
structive. The  mere  fact  that  the  Sung 
artists  operate  on  these  occasions  with 
the  nomenclature  of  pictorial  criticism, 
and  their  hint  at  the  dragon-motive  of 
Chang  Seng-\ni,  sufficiently  prove  that 
the  great  age  of  these  jade  buckles  is 

* See  Hirth,  1.  c.,  p.  58.  This  phrase  is  not  identical  with  our  word  realism,  but 
denotes  the  peculiar  live  action  in  which  a man,  an  animal  or  a plant  is  represented, 
and  in  which  the  observation  of  a particular  motion  is  brought  out.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  characteristic  features  of  Chinese  art  and  especially  painting,  which  has 
been  recognized  among  us,  before  we  became  acquainted  with  the  Chinese  confession 
(see  Lacker,  The  Decorative  Art  of  the  Amur  Tribes,  pp.  77-78,  and  E.  Grosse, 
Kunstwissenschaftliche  Studien,  p.  205).  Dr.  Haddon,  in  a review  of  the  former 
work  {Nature,  1903,  p.  561  b)  doubted  whether  this  view  of  mine  would  appeal  to 
all  readers,  and  remarked:  “The  idea  that  the  bulk  of  the  ornamentation  of  a 

group  of  people  is  based  mainly  upon  conceptions  of  motion  is  certainly  new.”  But 
this  idea  is  that  of  East-Asiatics  themselves  and  has  been  inborn  in  their  minds  and 
working  in  full  play  for  at  least  1500  years;  the  Chinese  art  critics  ever  since  the 
fifth  century  have  expressed  it  with  full  consciousness  and  made  it  one  of  the  “Six 
Canons”  to  be  observed  in  painting:  “life’s  motion,”  i.  e.  the  specific  action,  posture, 
movement  peculiar  to  any  living  being  or  plant  at  a certain  given  moment.  E.  g. 
bamboo-leaves  drooping  under  the  load  of  heavy  rain-drops  or  agitated  by  the  wind 
is,  first,  an  observation  made  in  nature  which  the  artist  attempts  to  outline  on  paper; 
others  follow  in  his  footsteps,  the  motive  is  copied  over  and  over  again,  until  it  finally 
degrades  into  a stereotyped  ornament  with  a stereotyped  name. 


Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  Dragon. 
Media:val  (from  Ku  yil  t'u  p'u). 


2’]2 


Fif.ld  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vox,.  X. 


doubtful,  and  that  the  designs  applied  to  them  arose,  not  in  the  studios 
of  lapidaries,  but  in  the  schools  of  painters. 

In  view  of  these  self-made  confessions,  and  considering  the  entire 
pictorial  character  of  the  drawings  in  the  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u  executed  by 


Jade  Buckle  with  Head  of  Phenix.  Medisval 
(from  Ku  yii  t'u  P*u). 


Ancient  Jade  Buckle  with  Horse-Head  and  Hydra 
(from  Ku  yii  t*u  p'u). 


well-known  artists  of  the  brush  of  the  Sung  period,  1 cannot  banish  the 
thought  that  these  artists  themselves  may  have  been  the  agents  in 
transmitting  their  own  designs  to  the  sculptors  who  forthwith  executed 
them  in  jade.  This  theory  — and  it  has  no  pretention  to  be  more  than 
that  — would  possibly  furnish  a reasonable  explanation  for  the  ])ecu- 
liarly  systematic  and  schematic  character  of  this  singular  and  anomalous 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


273 


book,  and  further,  expose  the  psychological  motive  by  which  those 
Sung  artists  have  been  guided  in  perpetuating  their  own  productions  to 
posterity  under  the  disguise  of  a pretended  collection  of  ancient  jades. 
By  the  systematization  prevailing  in  this  book,  I mean  to  say  that 
every  class  of  objects  is  quasi  conjugated  according  to  a definite  scheme, 
that  the  same  series  of  motives  occurs  again  in  ever>’  series  of  types  and 
is  accordingly  badgered  through  every  chapter. 

We  could  but  reluctantly  yield  to  the  assumption  that  it  was  ever 
possible  to  gather  such  a seemingly  complete  collection,  so  fully  repre- 
sentative of  each  and  every  variant.  It  is  too  beautiful,  too  obtru.sive- 
ly  complete  to  deserve  full  credence.  It  is  more  credible  and  plausible 
that  in  the  same  way,  as  in  the  court-atelier  {shang  fang)  of  the  Sung 
emperors  the  bronze  vessels  of  the  Shang  and  Chou  dynasties  were 
reproduced,*  as  the  Sung  painters  imitated  the  style  of  the  T'ang 
masters,  the  ancient  works  of  jade  were  revived  in  new  forms  and  wdth 
motives  partially  modified  under  the  suggestive  influence  of  this  general 
renaissance  movement  in  art.  And  therein  the  whole  secret  of  the  Ku 
yii  t'u  p'u  may  be  regarded  as  unveiled.  It  is,  to  a large  extent,  a col- 
lection of  art-motives,  a grammar  of  ornaments,  characteristic  of  the 
national  awakening  of  art  in  the  Sung  period.  Therein  lies  its  impor- 
tance, but  there,  also  its  value  ends;  it  is  not  a safe  guide  for  the  study 
of  jade  antiquities. 

* Still  known  to  the  Chinese  under  the  terse  label  Shang  fang  Iso  li  “ Made  in  the 
imperial  atelier.”  There  are  many  beautiful  bronze  specimens  of  this  class  in  our 
collection,  many  of  them  being  not  only  just  as  good,  but  even  better  than  the 
ancient  models. 


1 


274  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

«r 


6.  Sword  Ornaments  of  Jade 

Wu  Ta-ch'eng  rejiorts  that  he  owns  in  his  jirivate  collection  an 
ancient  two-edged  bronze  sword  ha\dng  a sword-guard  of  jade  and  a 
hilt  of  the  same  material,  the  bronze  and  jade  parts  being  cleverly 
joined  together.  The  age  of  such  swords,  he  adds,  cannot  be  made 
out  definitely,  as  sword-guards  occur  both  in  bronze  and  in  jade.  An 
allusion  to  a sword-guard  of  jade  is  met  in  the  “Annals  of  the  Former 
Han  Dynasty”  (Ts'ien  Ilan  shu)  in  the  chapter  Iliung-nu  chuan  “Mem- 
oirs of  the  Hiung-nu  (Huns)  ” where  it  is  on  record  that  the  Shen-yii 
(sovereign)  of  the  Huns  received  as  a gift  from  China  a two-edged  sword 
with  jade  fittings.^  This  passage  is  explained  by  the  commentaries 
that  the  hilt,  the  ring-shaped  knob  surmounting  the  hilt,  and  the  guard 
were  made  of  jade,  a statement  which  agrees  with  the  specimen  of  Wn. 
On  this  occasion  the  famous  Yen  Shih-ku  (579-645  a.  d.)  imparts  to  us 
three  words  then  current  for  the  designation  of  a sword-guard:  pi  which 
means  nose,  wei  which  means  jirotector,  accordingly  corresponding  to 
our  word  guard,  and  a complicated  character  composed  with  the  radical 
for  jade  {yii)  and  likewise  reading  wei}  In  all  probability  the  latter 
word  and  character  have  been  coined  ad  hoc,  in  order  to  designate  the 
special  sword-guards  made  of  jade.  In  the  “ Biography  of  Wang  Mang  ” 
contained  in  the  same  annals,  it  is  noted  that  odd  bits  of  jade  {siii  yii) 
were  chosen  for  their  manufacture. 

In  our  collection  there  is  a beautiful  specimen  of  a jade  sword-guard 
of  the  Han  period,  remarkable  for  its  artistic  design  and  splendid  work- 
manship. It  is  shown  on  Plate  XXXV,  Fig.  i in  three  views;  la  ex- 
hibits its  front  on  which  one  hydra  is  carved.  Fig.  ib  shows  the  opposite 
side  on  which  two  hydras  are  displayed,  while  F'ig.  3c  represents  the 
lower  side  with  the  perforation  in  which  the  hilt  and  blade  of  the  sword 
join.  In  Fig.  2 of  the  same  Plate  is  illustrated  an  ancient  bronze  sword- 
guard  acquired  by  me  in  Si-ngan  fu  covered  with  a thick  layer  of  fine 
patina,  plain  and  unadorned,  but  in  the  rhomboidal  outline  and  in  the 

‘According  to  the  Annals  of  the  Wei  dynasty  (IVei  shu)  the  emperor  Wfin  pos- 
sessed a two-edged  sword  (kien),  the  head  of  which  was  mounted  with  brilliant 
pearls,  and  the  hilt  adorned  with  jade  of  Lan-t'ien  (Lan  yii).  It  was  customary  for 
him  to  hand  it  to  his  followers  in  order  to  ward  off  the  evil  influences  of  spirits. 

^The  character  will  be  found  in  Figs.  177-181  representing  jade  sword-guards. 
It  is  omitted  in  Giles’s  Dictionary'.  Yen  Shih-ku  defines  also  the  word  sun  (Giles 
No.  4906  “knob  on  the  guard  of  a sword”);  it  is,  according  to  him  "the  horizontal 
part  overlapping  the  mouth  of  the  sword.”  This  cannot  be  the  guard,  as  the  latter 
is  explained  by  three  other  words,  but  only  the  flaf  projecting  rim  occurring  on  the 
top  of  the  two-edged  bronze  swords.  The  editors  of  the  Kin-shih  so  are  of  the  same 
opinion;  they  give  the  drawing  of  an  ancient  sword  with  the  nomenclature  of  the 
single  parts  and  denote  the  part  in  question  by  the  word  siin.  The  Japanese  use 
the  character  for  this  word  in  writing  their  word  tsuba  which  means  sword-guard. 


1 


Explanation  of  pl.  XXXV. 

Fig.  I.  Jade  Sword-Guard,  a Front,  b Back,  c Lower  Side. 
Fig.  2.  Bronze  Sword-Guard. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  XXXV. 


EB.,  1912. 


Jade. 


275 


Sword-Guard  of  Red  Jade  with  Clayish  Substances. 


Fig.  178. 

Sword-Guard  of  White  Jade. 


276  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

shajje  and  treatment  of  the  perforation  perfectly  identical  with  the 
specimen  in  jade. 

While  it  becomes  obvious  from  the  peculiar  character  and  technique 
of  these  perforations  that  those  objects  could  ha\'e  served  no  other 
purpose,  this  fact  is  set  beyond  any  doubt  by  two  actual  finds  of  Han 
cast-iron  swords  in  our  collection  which  arc  provided  with  bronze 
guards  of  exactly  the  same  description.  As  a minor  evidence,  I may 
mention  that  also  the  antiquarians  of  Si-ngan  fu  recognized  and  defined 
these  bronze  and  jade  specimens  as  sword-guards  (called  hu-shou  “guard- 
ing the  hand”). 

Figures  la  and  b of  this  Plate  XXXV  exhibit,  as  stated,  the  front  and 
back  of  the  jade  .sword-guard  (5.6  cm  X i-8  cm).  On  the  one  side 
(6),  a hydra  is  shown  in  full  figure,  undercut  and  almost  standing  out 
freel}'  from  the  surface,  raising  its  head  with  open  jaws,  as  if  ready 
for  attack.  On  the  other  face  (c),  a mother  hydra  and  its  young  one 
are  laid  out  in  fiat  relief.^  The  jade  is  light-gray  in  color  and  filled  with 
white  clay  matter';  in  the  middle  of  the  hydra’s  body  in  Fig.  la,  we 
notice  a black  spot  in  the  illustration  which  is  bright  brown  in  the  jade 
and  surrounded  by  ivory-colored  patches. 

Five  specimens  of  jade  sword-guards  are  in  Wu  Ta-ch'eng’s  collec- 
tion and  here  reproduced  in  Figs.  177-181 ; each  being  represented  twice 
as  seen  from  above  and  below.  While  the  outward  shapes  of  these 
somewhat  differ  from  mine,  the  way  of  cutting  out  the  perforation  is  the 
same.  Figure  1 77,  as  the  legend  attached  to  it  says,  is  a piece  of  “reddish 
jade  with  earth  spots;”  that  in  Fig.  178  of  “uniformly  white  jade  with 
a spray  of  red  mist  on  the  lower  side;”  those  in  Figs.  179  and  180  of 
“white  jade  with  reddi.sh  dots;”  that  in  Fig.  181  of  “green  jade  with  a 
black  section  in  which  reddish  dots  are  interspersed.”  As  regards  orna- 
mentation, our  author  has  not  commented  on  it;  it  consists,  on  the 
whole,  of  spiral  formations  in  low  relief  equally  brought  out  on  both 
faces,  except  in  Fig.  181  where  the  back  is  unadorned.  The  decoration 
on  the  front  is  curious;  the  drawing  must  be  held  upside  down  to  recog- 
nize in  it  a hydra  with  raised  right  fore-])aw  and  head  looking  backward. 
The  double  spiral  forms  the  monster's  tail.  This  design  is  perhaps 
symbolic  of  the  action  of  the  sword. 

In  the  “Book  of  Songs”  {Shi  king),  this  verse  occurs:  “The  jades 
at  his  scabbard’s  mouth  all  gleaming”  (Legge,  Vol.  II,  p.  383;  com- 
pare also  p.  485).  Two  kinds  of  jade  ornaments  used  for  the  decora- 
tion of  scabbards  are  pointed  out,  - — the  one  called  peng  (Giles  No. 

‘A  frequent  motive  called  either  “pair  of  hydras,  child  and  mother,”  or  “the 
mother  watching  the  cub.”  There  is,  accordingly,  an  appropriate  symbolism 
brought  out  on  thjs  sword-guard,  attack  on  the  one  side,  and  defence  on  the  other. 


2. 


Jade. 


Fig.  i8o. 

Sword-Guards  of  White  Jade  with  Russet  Dots. 


278  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 


8870)  defined  by  the  diciionary  Shiio  wen  as  an  ornament  for  the 
upper  part  of  a knife  sheath  made  of  jade  for  the  emperor  and  of  gold 
(or  metal)  for  the  vassal  princes;  the  other  called  pi  (Giles  No.  8929) 


for  the  adornment  of  the  lower  end  of  a sheath  or  scabbard.  We 
know  also  that  this  class  of  objects  was  buried  with  the  dead,  for  we 
read  in  the  Kii  yii  I'u  (appended  to  the  Po  kii  t'li,  Ch.  2,  p.  14)  where 
three  sets  of  them  are  figured,  that  in  regard  to  the  first  of  them,  Liu 
Yen-siang  had  obtained  it  in  the  Western  Caiiital  (Si-ngan  fu),  and  that 
according  to  tradition  it  was  found  in  the  grave  of  Kao  Sing  (see 
below). 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.\DE. 


279 


It  will  be  seen  from  the  two  Figures  182  and  183  derived  from  Wu 
Ta-ch'eng  and  representing  two  jade  ornaments  (the  one  of  white 
jade,  the  other  of  green  jade  with  “earth  spots”)  for  the  decoration 
of  the  mouth  of  scabbards  [peng)  that  these  bear  in  their  forms  a striking 
similarity  unth  the  sword-guards  of  jade,  and  that  their  forms  are  appar- 
ently derived  from  the  latter.  Also  the  prancing  hydra  on  the  back  of 


Fig.  182. 


Fig.  183. 


Jade  Ornaments,  peng,  for  the  Mouth  of  Scabbards,  White  Jade  (182)  and  Green  Jade  with 

Clayish  Substances  (183), 


the  ornament  in  Fig.  183  is  related  in  style  to  that  on  our  jade  sword- 
guard  in  Plate  XXXV,  Fig.  i.  Each  of  the  two  peng  is  figured  twice, 
as  seen  from  above  and  from  below,  the  front  being  chosen  for  the  former 
view,  the  back  for  the  latter.  In  Fig.  182,  the  back  is  plain;  in  Fig.  183, 
two  different  decorations  are  brought  out  on  the  two  faces. 

In  Figs.  184-187  showing  four  jade  ornaments  used  as  adornment 
for  the  extreme  ends  of  scabbards  (pi)  from  the  collection  of  Wu  T.'V- 
ch'eng,  the  double  views  have  been  retained  only  in  those  cases  where 
the  ornaments  of  both  faces  are  at  variance.  In  regard  to  the  material. 


28o  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


it  is  remarked  of  the  pieces  in  Figs.  184  and  185  that  they  are  made  of 
“white  jade  with  reddish  dots  spread  over  the  entire  body;”  of  the 
piece  in  Fig.  186,  “of  white  jade  with  two  black  strips;”  and  of  that  in 
Fig.  187,  “of  white  jade  \Hth  a small  zone  of  black  mist,  this  specimen 
being  the  largest  of  its  kind.”  In  form,  these  pi  are  bell-shaped  in 
general.  The  small  oval  perforations  show  that  they  were  destined 
for  scabbards  tenninating  in  a cur\'ed  narrow  tip,  accordingly  holding 
one-edged  knives  or  swords.  The  decorations  are  self-explanatory. 


pointing  to  the  style  of  the  Han  period.  The  hydra  ready  for  attack  is 
notable  in  Fig.  185.  In  Fig.  186,  a bronze  vessel  with  projecting  ridges 
is  imitated.  Figure  187  offers  perhaps  a strongly  conventionalized  form 
of  the  monster  I'ao-t'ieh. 

In  our  own  collection  there  is  a carving  of  cloud-white  and  greenish 
jade  (3.8  cm  X 4-5  cm)  which  I think  may  be  identified  with  this  type 
(Plate  XX\TII,  Fig.  6).  The  petals  of  an  opening  flower  seem  to  be 
intended  in  the  upper  portion,  and  on  one  of  the  lateral  sides  a veined 
leaf  is  engraved,  j^art  of  which  is  visible  in  the  illustration.  Also  this 
piece 'is  doubtless  a work  of  the  Han  period. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


281 


The  Ku  yii  I'li  offers  also  several  of  these  scabbard  ornaments.  Its 
first  set  is  dated  in  the  time  before  the  Shang  dynasty  (b.  c.  1766)  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  found  in  the  grave  of  Kao  Sing,  a pretended 


Fig.  185. 

Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard.  White  Jade  interspersed  with  Russet  Specks. 


contemporary  of  the  legendary  Emperor  Shun  (alleged  b.  c.  2258-2206). 
Alleged  finds  from  his  grave  are  alluded  to  also  in  the  Ku  yii  Vu  p'u, 
but  this  grave  must  be  looked  upon  as  legendary  as  well  as  the  personage. 

Figure  188  represents  a peng  and  a pi  illustrated  in  the  K'ao  ku  t'u  by 
Lu  Ta-lin  (Ch.  8,  p.  5),  and  accomi)anied  by  an  engraving  of  an  ancient 


282  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

king  (Fig.  189)  holding  a sword  adorned  with  these  ornaments.  This 
pieture  has  a special  interest  to  us,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  accompanying 
text  that  it  is  derived  from  the  series  of  Virtuous  Women  {Lieh  nil  t'u) 
of  the  famous  painter  Ku  Ch'ang-k'ang,  or  Ku  K'ai-chih  of  the  fourth 
century  .4.  d.,  and  that  it  represents  Wu,  king  of  Ch'u  (b.  c.  740-690) 
carrying  a sword  in  his  belt  which  is  ornamented  at  the  upjicr  and  lower 
ends  with  the  jade  carvings  called  peng  and  pi}  The  series  of  pictures 


here  alluded  to  was  first  published  in  print  in  1063  a.  d.,  and  republished 
in  facsimile  in  four  volumes  at  Yang-chou  in  1825  (under  the  title  Ku 
lieh  nii  chuan)?  There  we  find  the  same  figure  in  the  second  volume 
No.  2,  with  the  same  designation;  the  king  is  engaged  in  conversation 
with  the  queen,  the  princess  Man  of  Teng.  It  is  the  illustration  of  the 
.scene  described  by  Tschepe  (Histoire  du  royaume  de  Tch'ou,  p.  22). 
The  drawing  of  the  sword  is  much  plainer  there  than  in  our  picture  and 
lacking  in  those  ornamental  characteristics  for  the  sake  of  which  it  is 

■On  Ku  K'ai-chih  see  Giles,  Introduction  etc.,  pp.  17-21;  Hirth,  Scraps, 
pp.  51-53;  Chavannes,  T'oung  Pao,  1904,  pp.  323-325.  The  biography  translated 
l)y  Chavannes  from  the  Tsin  shu  is  certainly  not  the  life  of  the  painter,  but  a collec- 
tion of  merry  tricks  in  the  style  of  Eulenspiegel  which  tradition  has  centralized  around 
his  person ; such  types  have  been  created  by  popular  tradition  everywhere,  and  any 
good  jokes  are  finally  ascribed  to  them,  ^lost  of  these  anecdotes  concerning  the 
painter  have  a world-wide  currency;  the  last,  e.  g.,  occurs  in  the  Turkish  stories  of 
Nassr-eddin. 

* A copy  procured  by  me  in  China  is  in  the  John  Crerar  Librarj'  (Xo.  673). 


Fic.  186. 

White  Jade  Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard. 


Jade. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


283 


reproduced  in  the  K'ao  ku  t'u.  The  object  held  by  the  king  in  his  right 
is  drawn  there  as  a palm-leaf  fan. 

In  this  connection,  also  the  archer’s  thumb-ring  of  jade  may  be 
noticed,  as  there  is  an  ancient  specimen  of  yellow-reddish  tinge  in  our 


White  Jade  Ornament,  pi,  for  Lower  End  of  Scabbard. 


collection  (Plate  XXVIII,  Fig.  7).  The  illustration  shows  the  side- 
view.  The  ring  is  3 cm  wide  and  high,  2.5  cm  long,  the  opening  having 
a diameter  of  1.8  cm.  It  is  shaped  like  an  arch  in  the  upper  part  and 
flat  in  the  lower. 

Dr.  Bushell  has  likewise  illustrated  a piece  of  this  type  in  the  Bishop 
collection  No.  330  (Vol.  II,  p.  109)  which  he  describes  as  being  of  a jade 
gray  clouded  and  veined  with  very  dark  brown,  and  which  he  dates 
likewise  in  the  Han  dynasty. 


284  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

Archery  is  a very  ancient  practice  in  China,  and  these  thumb-rings 
as  also  the  arm-guards  are  mentioned  as  early  as  in  the  Shi  king  ^ under 
two  different  names,  kiieh  (Giles  No.  3220)  and  shih.  They  were  worn 
on  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand  to  proteet  it  from  being  injured  by  the 
bow-string  after  the  release  of  the  arrow,  or  as  Mr.  Morse  ^ explains, 
the  thick  edge  of  the  ring  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  string  as  it  is 

drawn  back,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  string  is 
quickly  released  by  straight- 
ening the  thumb. 

Wu  Ta-cii'eng  figures 
also  a specimen  of  pure 
white  jade  which  it  is  not 
necessary  to  reproduce,  as 
it  has  the  same  shape  as 
ours,  and  arrives  at  the 
conclusion  that  this  partic- 
ular ])iece  was  reserved  for 
imperial  use,  on  the  ground 
that  such  rings  of  white 
jade  were  permitted  to  the 
emperor  only,  while  those 
of  the  officials  were  of  ivory. 

These  thumb-rings  are 
still  used  in  archery  and 
manufactured  in  Peking 
from  the  antler  of  an  elk 
which  is  there  designated 
also  by  the  Chinese  with 
the  Manchu  name  hantahan. 
The  mode  of  wearing  the 
ring  may  be  seen  in  a Chinese  illustration  given  by  P.  Etienne  Zi 
(Pratique  des  examens  militaires  en  Chine,  p.  18,  Shanghai,  1896). 
Father  Zi  remarks  that  the  most  prized  rings  arc  those  made  of  jade  of 
the  Han  period  {II an  yii)  of  a white  gray  with  red  veins  and  green  stripes; 
those  taken  from  the  graves  of  students  who  were  graduated  at  the 
time  of  the  military  examinations  arc  reddish  in  color,  and  a notion 
that  they  afford  protection  against  spirits  is  attached  to  them.  Morse 
(/.  c.)  has  made  a most  careful  technical  study  of  this  question  and  gives 

‘ Legge,  Vol.  I,  p.  103,  ed.  Couvreur,  pp.  72,  208.  Compare  also  Li  ki,  ed. 
CoevREUR,  Vol.  I,  p.  621. 

-Ei)\v.\ri)  S.  Morse,  Ancient  and  Modern  Methods  of  Arrow- Release  {Bulletin 
of  the  Essex  Institute,  V'^ol.  XVII,  1885,  p.  17). 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade.  285 

an  exact  sketch  of  the  Chinese  method  of  arrow-release  (p.  16) ; he  figures 


Fig.  189. 

King  Wu  of  Ch*u. 
after  Painting  by  Ku  K'ai-chih 
(from  K*ao  ku  t'u). 


likewise  two  modem  Chinese  thumb-rings  (p.  17)  and  shows  that  the 
Turk  and  Persians  also  avail  themselves  of  such  rings  of  similar  shapes. 


286  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


7.  The  Jade  Court-Girdles  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty 

Under  the  T'ang  dynasty  (618-907  a.  d.),  a new  fashion  in  court- 
girdles  came  into  existence.  The  T'ang  shih  lu  (as  quoted  in  the  Ku 
yu  t'u  p'u,  Ch.  52)  reports:  “Girdles  for  the  loins  have  existed  since 
times  of  old,  and  all  used  to  wear  them;  but  these  were  leather  belts 
throughout.  Kao-tsu  (618-627  a.  d.)  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  was  the 
first  to  institute  regulations  for  the  girdles:  all  princes  and  nobles, 
lords,  ministers  of  state  and  generals  above  the  second  rank  were  al- 
lowed to  wear  jade  girdles.  The  one  of  the  Son  of  Heaven  consisted 
of  twenty-four  plaques,  all  others  of  thirteen  plaques  with  two  additional 
plaques  at  the  ends  (‘tails’).  There  were  two  kinds,  ornamented  and 
plain  ones,  the  former  only  for  the  use  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  while  the 
princes  and  ministers  could  wear  the  girdles  with  dragon-designs  only  in 
case  that  they  were  bestowed  on  them.”  This  was  a new  departure 
from  the  custom  obtaining  under  the  preceding  Sui  dynasty  under  whose 
regulations  the  emperor  wore  a girdle  with  twelve  metal  rings,  and  the 
princes  and  high  officials  one  with  nine  such  rings.  We  shall  soon  see 
by  w'hat  factors  this  innovation  of  Kao-tsu  w'as  instigated.* 

Figure  190  represents  the  first  of  these  girdles  depicted  in  the  Ku  yii 
t'u  p'u  consisting  of  tw'enty-four  plaques  carved  from  a lustrous  w^hite 
jade,  the  girdle  running  all  round;  the  single  plaques  are  stated  to  be 
2i’o  inches  (Chinese)  long,  and  21*0  inches  wide  and  inches  thick, 
the  round  ones  ha^ing  a diameter  of  5i®o  inches,  the  square  ones  being 
2 ,'o  inches  long  and  i I'^o  inches  wdde;  the  two  tail-pieces  being  5 i®o-  inches 
long  and  i inches  wide.  The  two  central  plaques  display  each  a 
dragon  wdth  four  claws  soaring  in  the  clouds,  w^hile  the  others  are  occu- 
pied by  cloud  patterns.  The  judgment  of  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  on  the  work 
is:  “The  patterns  are  in  open-work  and  clever,  the  carving  is  fine  like 
dowm,  showing  the  excellent  workmanship  of  the  T'ang.”  This,  as  w'ell 
as  the  next  girdle  (Fig.  19 1)  of  which  only  half  is  reproduced,  is  an 
imperial  privilege.  The  jade  in  this  specimen  is  w'hite  and  “glossy 
like  mutton-fat.”  It  is  carved  wdth  designs  styled  wan  shou  “ten  thou- 
sand ages,”  a hyperbolic  expression  for  the  emperor  (also  for  his  birth- 

* There  are  many  other  regulations  of  the  T'ang  concerning  girdles  published 
in  the  T'ang  shu  and  the  Ku  kin  chu,  which  we  cannot  treat  here  in  full,  as  they  are 
not  concerned  with  jade.  Kao-tsu  bestowed  girdles  of  black  tortoise-shell  on  civil, 
and  girdles  of  black  silver  on  military  officials,  "for  the  reason  that  they  should 
indicate  the  unchangcability  of  color,”  a curious  double  symbolism  with  reference 
to  color  and  faithfulness  of  the  officials.  In  the  pefriod  Shang-yiian  (674-676  a.  d.), 
an  edict  conferred  girdles  of  gold  and  jade  on  civil  and  military  officials  above  the 
third  grades,  gold  girdles  on  those  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  grades,  silver  girdles  on 
those  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  grades,  brass  {t'ou  shih)  girdles  on  those  of  the  eighth 
and  ninth  grades,  and  assigned  eopper  and  iron  girdles  to  the  people  at  large. 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade.  287 

day) ; this  name  is  derived  from  the  svastika  on  which  this  pattern  is 
based,  and  which  is  also  read  wan,  considered  as  an  abbreviated  form 
of  this  character  meaning  “ten  thousand,”  and  its  arrangement  in  this 
composite  design  suggests  the  character  shou  “long  life;”  this  occurs 
three  times  in  the  well-known  form  in  each  of  the  two  central  plaques.^ 
The  girdle  in  Fig.  192  is  styled  “Jade  court-girdle  of  great  hajrpi- 
ness,  equalling  heaven,  of  the  T'ang  djmasty.”  It  is  not  of  white,  but 


White  Jade  Court-Girdle  with  Dragon-Designs  of  the  T'ang  Period  (from  Ku  yii  ru  p'u) 


of  pale-green  jade,  because  officials  are  allowed  to  wear  it.^  The  pattern 
cart'cd  on  the  plaques  consists  of  bats  surrounded  by  clouds  (picn  fu 
yiin  hia  chih  whi)  in  open-work  and  cut  out  in  layers  “fine  like  down.” 
The  jade  of  the  bats  is  red  like  cinnabar  (whether  natural  or  artificial 
is  not  mentioned),  “which  is  very  curious,  for  this  red  {hung)  means 
the  word  hung  (Giles  No.  5252)  “great,”  and  as  the  bat  fu  means /m 

_ ' ^ ^ related  character  see  L.  Gaill.\rd,  Croix  et  Swastika  en  Chine, 

Chap.  ni  (Shanghai,  1893). 

, ■ t'u  p'u  says  so,  but  this  girdle  consists  of  twenty-four  plaques,  while 

the  omcials,  apcording  to  the  regulations,  as  we  found,  were  entitled  to  a girdle  of 
only  13-1-2  plaques.  I am  not  able  to  account  for  this  contradiction. 


1 

288  Field  Museum  OF  Natural  History  — Axth.,  VoL.  X.  | 

“happiness,”  this  design  has  the  significance  of  hung  fit  “great  happi- 
ness;” the  clouds  in  the  sky  bear  out  the  meaning  “equalling  heaven” 

{ts'i  I'ien),  so  that  the  whole  implies  a sentence  by  which  blessings  are 


implored  for  the  imperial  palace;  i.  e.  when  the  officials  entitled  to  wear 
this  girdle  ap]icared  with  it  in  audience,  it  was  expressive  of  the  wish, 
“May  your  Majesty  obtain  great  happiness  reaching  heaven  like  the 
clouds!  ” 

The  most  interesting  point  in  regard  to  this  rebus  is  the  double 
s>Tnbolism  associated  with  the  red  color;  for  the  color  red  is  an  emblem 


I 


Feb.,  1912.  Jade.  289 

of  luck  in  itself,  but  besides  this,  the  color  is  supposed  in  this  case  to  be 
readable  with  its  name  hung  “red”  which  is  punned  upon  with  another 
word  hung  “great.”  A pun  is  also  underljdng  the  cloud  symbolism,  as 


the  compound  yiin  hia  “clouds  and  vapor”  is  used;  and  the  word  kia, 
in  the  compound  chu  kia  “to  implore  blessings,”  is  written  with  the 
same  phonetic  element  as  the  word  hia  “vapor;”  here,  accordingly,  is 
a double  s\Tnbolism,  phonetic  and  one  of  subject-matter. 

While  the  designs  on  these  three  girdles  are  plainly  Chinese,  we  meet 
on  the  plaques  on  the  next  girdle  in  h'ig.  193  a floral  design  of  Persian 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


origin  occurring  in  the  same  form  and  under  the  same  name  {pao  siang 
hua,  “rose-flower”)  on  the  contemporaneous  metal  mirrors  of  the  T’ang 
period,  of  which  there  are  many  excellent  specimens  in  our  collection. 


Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  Empress  of  the  T’anj?  Dynasty,  with  Persian  Floral  Designs 

(from  Ku  yti  Vti  P*u). 

We  shall  see  presently  through  what  channel  this  elegant  plant  pattern 
arrived  in  China.  The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'li  notices  the  delicate  composition 
of  the  design  and  calls  it  an  unusually  precious  girdle.  It  does  not  say 
to  what  class  of  wearers  it  belongs,  but  I venture  to  make  a guess  at  a 
palace  lady,  — for  two  reasons,  first  of  all  because  of  the  dainty  femi- 
nine character  of  the  design,  and  secondly  because  the  color  of  the  jade 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


291 

is  stated  to  be  yellow,  yellow  being  the  color  of  Earth,  and  the  empress 
is  mysteriously  connected  with  the  deity  Earth.*  Also  the  number  of 
twenty  plaques  in  this  girdle  refers  to  the  female  clement  as  an  even 
number,  and  relates  to  Earth  too,  as  l)eing  4X5,  five  being  the  number 


Fig.  194. 

Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  sent  as  tribute  from  Khotan  (from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


of  Earth.  Besides,  in  the  legend  to  the  illustration,  the  girdle  is  styled 
court-girdle  of  Hu-mien  which  in  all  probability  is  a woman’s  name. 

From  an  historical  viewpoint,  the  most  interesting  of  these  girdles 
is  that  in  Fig.  194  called  “Jade  court-girdle  wdth  the  disk  of  the  natural 
moon.”  It  is  remarked  in  the  text  that  the  Emperor  T'ai-tsung  (627— 

* Therefore,  under  the  T'ang,  the  empresses  claim  the  right  to  participate  in  the 
great  thanks-offerings  to  Earth  (Chavannes,  Le  T'ai  Chan,  pp.  185,  206). 


2Q2  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

649  A.  D.)  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  had  obtained  it  after  the  jjacification 
of  Kiang-nan,  and  that  it  had  been  sent  as  tribute  from  Khotan.  Now 
in  fact  it  is  on  record  that  a girdle  of  jade  was  offered  by  Wei-ch'ih 
Wu-mi,  king  of  Khotan,  in  the  year  632  (Ciiavannes,  T'oung  Pao,  1904, 
]).  4),  i.  e.  during  the  reign  of  T'ai-tsung,  so  that  the  account  of  the  Ku 
yii  t'u  p'u  deserves  credence,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  this  or  a similar 
girdle  is  the  one  then  sent  from  Khotan.' 

This  girdle  consists  of  twenty-four  green  jade  plaques  unadorned 
with  the  exception  of  the  two  central  plaques,  the  upper  one  of  which 
shows  a figure  of  the  full  moon,  and  the  lower  one  the  crescent.  “At 
the  time  of  the  Sui  dynasty,”  adds  the  Sung  Catalogue,  “the  waxing 
and  waning  of  the  moon  corresponding  to  the  aspect  of  the  moon  on  the 
fifteenth  and  last  of  the  lunar  month  was  a s\’mbol  of  the  rise  of  splen- 
dor.” This  interpretation  is  unnecessary,  for  if  this  girdle  was  de- 
spatched from  Khotan,  it  is  likely  that  the  lunar  designs  had  also  orig- 
inated there.-  In  glancing  back  at  the  preceding  girdles,  we  now  become 
aware  of  the  fact  that  they  are  all  modeled  on  exactly  the  same  principle 
as  this  one,  and  that  even  the  rectangular,  square  and  pear-shaped 
plaques  appear  there  in  the  same  rotation.  Consequently,  if  this  girdle 
was  made  in  Khotan,  the  others  are  simply  imitations  of  it,  as  girdles 
of  this  type  had  been  unknown  in  China  before.  Then  we  are  also 
justified  in  deriving  from  Khotan  the  Persian  floral  design  on  the  girdle 
in  Fig.  19 1.  Finally,  this  type  of  girdle  itself  goes  back  to  Persia  where 
it  is  still  in  use. 

Of  the  last  girdle  in  this  book,  only  the  two  central  plaques  (Fig.  195) 
are  reproduced,  as  this  girdle  presents  exactly  the  same  shape  as  the 
jjreceding  one.  All  plaques  are  plain  except  these  two  filled  with  a 
design  of  hills.  It  is  therefore  designated  as  “a  court-girdle  of  ancient 
jade  with  a design  of  natural  hills.”  The  jade  is  imle-blue  and  crystal- 
clear.  The  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  compares  these  hills  with  the  sacred  mountains 
of  China,  and  remarks  that  their  wonderful  summits  and  superposed 

* The  jade  of  Khotan  is  mentioned  in  the  Annals  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  (T'ang 
shu,  Ch.  221)  where  it  is  remarked  in  the  description  of  that  region  that  the  natives 
observe  during  the  night  the  spots  where  the  reflection  of  the  moon-light  is  intense, 
and  do  not  fail  to  find  there  fine  jade,  also  that  they  utilize  jade  for  the  making  of 
seals  (Chavannes,  Documents  sur  les  Turcs  occidentaux,  p.  125). — The  tribute  sent 
by  Khotan  consisted  in  jade,  and  at  certain  times,  it  seems  to  have  been  an  obligatory 
tax.  At  least,  we  read  in  the  Annals  of  the  Yuan  dynasty  (Yuan  shih)  under  the 
year  1274  that  the  people  of  Khotan  were  relieved  from  the  burden  of  collecting 
jade  (Bret.schneidek,  Notices  of  the  Mediaeval  Geography,  p.  226). — As  a tribute- 
gift  from  Turkistan  (Si  yii),  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  97,  p.  1 1)  figures  a neat  bird-cage 
of  green  jade,  and  a wine-vessel  in  form  of  a dragon  sent  by  a king  of  Khotan  in  the 
period  1023-1031  (Ch.  90,  p.  5). 

®This  crescent-design  is  not  Mohammedan  in  origin,  but  Sassanidian.  For  the 
Persian  analogies  on  textiles  after  the  bas-reliefs  of  Takht-i  Bostan,  see  J.  de  Mor- 
gan, Mission  scientifique  en  Perse,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  325,  327  (Paris,  1897). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


293 


peaks  are  sublime  as  if  ])ainted,  and  that  this  pieee  is  the  most  remark- 
able of  all  jades.  This  design  is  eertainly  interesting  in  that  it  reflects 
the  style  of  mountain-painting  during  the  T'ang  dynasty,  — and  it  is 
doubtless  copied  from  some  great  landscapist  of  the  period,  — and  in 
that  it  offers  the  oldest  known  example  of  a carving  of  mountain  scenery 
in  jade  of  which  the  lapidary  artists  of  the  Ming  and  the  eighteenth 
century  renaissance  period  have  left  us  such  glorious  examples. 


Fig.  igs- 

Central  Plaques  from  Jade  Court-Girdle  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty,  with  Mountain  Scenery 

(from  Ku  yu  t'u  p'u). 


The  emperors  of  the  Sung  and  Ming  dynasties  retained  the  jade 
girdles  of  their  predecessors,  until  they  were  abolished  with  the  rise  of 
the  present  Manchu  dynasty  which  set  up  new  regulations  in  this  de- 
partment. The  emperors  of  the  reigning  house  wear  a court-girdle  of 
yellow  silk  adorned  with  four  plaques  of  gold  on  which  five-clawed 
dragons  are  chased.  The  ornaments  worn  at  the  girdle  arc  of  lapis- 
lazuli  for  the  imperial  functions  in  the  Temple  of  Heaven  whose  cardinal 
color  is  blue,  of  yellow  jade  for  his  .services  at  the  Altar  of  Earth,  yellow 
corresponding  to  the  color  of  Earth,  of  red  coral  for  the  Altar  of  the  Sun, 
and  of  pale-white  jade  for  the  Altar  of  the  Moon.  The  jade  court- 
girdles  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  were  preserved  until  recent  times  in  Korea 
and  Annam. 


I 


VIII.  JADE  AMULETS  OF  THE  DEAD 

Dr.  Bushell  has  introduced  into  Chinese  archaeology  the  term 
“tomb  jade’’  on  which  he  remarks  (in  Bishop,  VoI.  II,  p.  102;  also 
Chinese  Art,  Vol.  1,  p.  145):  “The  term  lotnb  has  been  adopted  as  a 
synonym  of  the  Chinese  word  han,  which  originally  meant  “placed  in 
the  mouth”  of  a corpse  before  burial,  was  afterward  extended  to  include 
all  jade  objects  buried  in  tombs  in  ancient  times,  and  ultimately  em- 
plo}’ed,  w’ith  a yet  wider  signification,  to  comprise  all  old  jades  dug  up 
from  the  ground,  whether  lost  during  floods  or  earthquakes,  01  purposely 
buried  in  times  of  famine  or  rebellion.  So  our  “tomb  jade”  is  to  be 
taken  as  a synonym  of  the  term  han  yii  of  the  Chinese  archaeologist  in 
the  widest  sense  of  the  term.” 

This  terminology,  however,  is  a debatable  subject.  I should  not 
be  so  small-minded  as  to  take  issue  with  Dr.  Bushell  on  a mere  term- 
question,  but,  as  it  means  much  more  than  this  and  has  a large  bearing 
on  this  whole  subject,  I am  forced  to  state  my  opinion  as  briefly  as 
possible.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  definition  of  Bushell  is  due  to  a 
misunderstanding  on  his  part  of  his  Chinese  informants.  It  is  true 
the  modern  Chinese  concerned  Mth  the  archaeology  of  jade  frequently 
speak  of  II an  yii,  but  this  always  and  invariably  means  “jade  of  the 
Han  dynasty.”  It  never  means,  however,  the  w'ord  han  (Giles 
No.  3821)  “to  place  in  the  mouth  of  a corpse”  or  “the  jade  amulet  placed 
on  the  tongue  of  the  dead”  which  Bushell  had  in  mind.  This  word  is 
not  in  colloquial  use,  is  indeed  exceedingly  rare  in  literature  and  only 
known  to  men  of  a thorough  literary  education.  It  is,  as  I may  \'ouch- 
safe  from  a long  personal  experience,  entirely  unknown  to  the  people 
of  Si-ngan  fu  who  always  designate  these  objects  as  ya-she  (“pressing 
the  tongue”);  but  these  same  people  have  a lot  to  saj'’  about  Han  yii, 
and  this  expression  exclusively  means  that  a given  piece  of  jade,  whether 
wrought  or  unwrought,  is  the  peculiar  kind  of  jade  particularly  used  in 
the  Han  period.  Thus,  e.  g.,  the  rough  water-worn  jade  pebble  illus- 
trated on  Plate  I,  Fig.  i,  is  a Ilan  yii',  the  bell  on  Plate  LIII,  though 
carved  in  the  K'ien-lung  period,  is  called  a Ilan  yii  because  the  jade 
material  is  identical  Mth  that  of  the  Han  period;  it  is  not  Turkistan 
or  Burmese  jade,  but  a bowlder  accidentally  found  on  the  soil  of  Shensi, 
probably  in  a river-bed,  during  the  eighteenth  century.  This  one 
example  is  conspicuous  in  showing  that  Bushell’s  definition  of  tomb- 
jades  is  beset  with  grave  danger,  for  the  unsophisticated  collector 
receiving  such  a piece  from  Chinese  hands  with  the  mark  Ilan  yii  would 

294 


Fkb.,  1912. 


' Jade. 


295 


doubtless  conclude,  on  Bushell’s  authority,  that  it  is  a genuine  ancient 
tomb-jade.  Certainly  what  the  Chinese  call  Ilan  yii  may  come  down 
from  the  Han  period,  but  it  must  not;  it  may  come  out  of  a Han  grave, 
but  it  must  not;  it  may  have  incidentally  been  found  also  underground 
in  a field  or  in  a river,  outside  of  a grave. 

Nothing  is  gained  for  scientific  purposes,  but  on  the  contrary  great 
harm  is  caused  to  a correct  understanding  of  these  objects,  if  we  indis- 
criminately designate  as  tomb  jades  all  jades  found  in  ancient  graves. 
In  the  Chinese  literature  on  the  archaeology  of  jade,  there  is  in  fact  no 
tenn  corresponding  to  Bushell’s  tomb  jades,  and  I feel  quite  confident 
in  so  saving,  as  I discussed  this  subject  with  able  Chinese  scholars.  The 
extension  which  Bushell  lent  to  the  term  han  yii  “jade  placed  in  the 
mouth”  is  arbitrary  and  not  justified  by  any  Chinese  text  nor  by  the 
opinion  of  any  Chinese  antiquarian.  We  find  a great  number  of  jade 
objects  in  the  ancient  graves  which  could  never  be  called  by  that  name. 
We  became  acquainted  with  the  six  jade  images  of  the  cosmic  deities 
placed  in  the  grave  according  to  the  Chou  It;  they  have  nothing  to  do 
with  han  yii.  We  saw  also  that  jade  girdle-ornaments,  badges  of  rank, 
and  even  implements  like  chisels,  hammers  and  knives  have  been  en- 
tombed. There  are  figures  of  animals  in  addition;  all  these  are  not 
han  yii.  We  consequently  recognize  that  there  are  different  groups  of 
jade  objects  (as  there  are  also  of  metal  and  pottery)  surrounding  the 
corpse  in  the  grave,  and  that  these  groups  emanate  from  quite  different 
psychical  phenomena  and  must  accordingly  receive  different  explanations. 
There  is  not  one  large  comprehensive  class  of  tomb-jades,  as  it  appears 
from  Bushell’s  deductions,  but  there  are  several  groups  widely  distin- 
guished one  from  another.  It  is  therefore  preferable  to  drop  entirely 
this  unfortunate  term  of  tomb-jades  which  is  superfluous,  ajjt  to  lead 
astray,  and  has  no  other  meaning  than  that  of  a certain  ticklish  sensa- 
tion to  the  collector. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  the  group  of  jade  objects  in  the  grave  which 
have  a purely  social  significance.  At  all  times,  in  China,  as  everj'where 
else,  people  had  belongings  buried  with  them  which  they  cherished 
during  life,  and  from  which  they  did  not  want  to  part  during  the  slumber 
of  death.  The  idea  of  profession  comes  in  here  easily,  as  people  natur- 
ally take  the  greatest  liking  to  the  things  pertaining  to  their  vocations. 
The  soldier  is  fond  of  his  sword  and  takes  it  along  into  the  grave,  the 
official  of  his  insignia  of  rank,  woman  of  her  jewelry. ^ 

* The  burial  of  uch  favorite  objects  was  always  left  to  individual  liberty.  They 
were  not  subject  o obligatory  regulations.  Hence  the  great  diversity  of  objects 
discovered  in  the  graves.  Also  at  the  present  time  everybody  takes  with  him 
whatever  he  likes.  This  may  also  account  for  the  reason  why  Chinese  sources  are 
so  reticent  about  these  objects  and  their  arrangement  in  the  grave,  while  all  cere- 
monies of  the  burial  are  minutely  described. 


2q6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

There  is,  secondly,  a purely  religious  group  of  mortuary  jade  objects 
composed  of  the  six  cosmic  deities  and  implements  of  primitive  forms 
originally  connected  with  solar  worship.  This  group  belongs  to  the 
culture  of  the  Chou  era.  In  the  Han  period,  we  meet  with  jade  carv- 
ings of  animals  acting  as  protectors  of  the  grave. 

A third  group  of  burial  objects  is  formed  by  jade  amulets  worn  by 
the  corpse,  as  the  belief  prevailed  that  jade  possessed  the  property  of 
preserving  the  flesh  of  the  bod\’  and  keeping  it  from  decay.  These 
amulets  will  form  the  subject  of  this  chapter. 

In  the  following  chapter,  we  shall  deal  with  a fourth  group  of  grave 
objects  used  in  dressing  the  corpse  for  burial. 

In  the  days  of  the  Chou  d\masty,  jade- was  taken  internally  as  food. 
“When  the  emperor  purifies  himself  by  abstinence,  the  chief  in  charge 
of  the  jade  works  {yii  fu)  prepares  for  him  the  jade  which  he  is  obliged 
to  eat,”  says  the  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  125).  Jade,  add  the  commen- 
taries to  this  passage,  is  the  essence  of  the  jiurity  of  the  male  principle, 
the  emperor  jiartakes  of  it  to  correct  or  counteract  the  water  which  he 
drinks  (as  water  belongs  to  the  female  jirinciple) ; the  emperor  fasts  and 
purifies  himself,  before  communicating  with  the  spirits;  he  must  take 
the  pure  extract  of  jade;  it  is  dissolved  that  he  may  eat  it.  And  in 
another  passage  of  the  Chou  li  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  492),  we  read  that  jade 
is  pounded  to  be  mixed  with  rice  to  be  administered  as  food  to  the  corpse 
of  an  emperor  before  burial  {tsaig  yii). 

In  later  Taoism,  we  meet  the  belief  highly  developed  that  jade  is 
the  food  of  spirits  and  tends  to  secure  immortality  (De  Groot,  The 
Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  I,  pp.  271-273;  Vol.  II,  p.  395).  We 
remember  from  a consideration  of  the  svTnbolism  underlying  the  girdle- 
ornaments  of  the  Han  period  that  a belief  was  then  dominant  in  a 
re\dval  of  the  corpse,  and  the  hill-censers  and  hill-jars  of  Han  pottery 
interred  with  the  dead  have  taught  us  how  deep  the  longing  for  immor- 
tality was  among  the  people  of  that  age.  Two  ideas  are,  therefore, 
prominent  in  the  burial  of  certain  jade  ornaments  with  the  corpse 
during  the  Chou  and  Han  periods, — the  preserv'^ation  of  the  body  by 
the  effect  of  the  qualities  inherent  to  jade,  and  the  hope  of  a resurrec- 
tion jirompted  by  this  measure. 

The  idea  of  jade  being  apt  to  prolong  life  seems  to  have  originated  at 
the  same  time  in  connection  with  the  notions  and  practices  of  alchemy 
then  coming  into  existence.  A marvellous  kind  of  jade  is  called  yii 
ying  “the  perfection  of  jade.”  It  is  represented  among  “the  wonderful 
objects  of  good  omen”  {fu  jui)  — there  are  twenty-two  altogether  — 
on  the  bas-reliefs  of  Wu-liang  of  the  Han  period  in  Shan-tung  where  it 
is  pictured  as  a plain  rectangular  slab  accomiianicd  by  the  inscription. 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jade. 


297 


“The  perfection  of  jade  will  appear,  when  the  five  virtues  are  cultiva- 
ted.”' Vessels,  it  was  supposed,  could  be  made  of  this  supernatural 
substance;  in  b.  c.  163,  a jade  cup  of  this  kind  was  discovered  on  which 
the  words  were  engraved,  “ May  the  sovereign  of  men  have  his  longevity 
prolonged!”  The  then  reigning  Emperor  Wen  took  this  joyful  event 
as  a suitable  occasion  to  choose  a new  motto  for  the  jjeriod  of  his  reign, 
and  to  count  this  year  as  the  first  of  a new  era,  celebrated  with  a ban- 
quet throughout  the  empire." 

It  was  believed  that  immortality  could  be  obtained  by  eating  from 
bowls  made  of  this  kind  of  jade.  Thus,  the  phrase  “to  eat  in  the 
perfection  of  jade”  came  to  assume  the  meaning  “to  obtain  eternal 
life.”  In  the  form  of  a wish,  it  appears  in  prayers  cast  as  inscriptions  on 
certain  metal  mirrors  of  the  Han  period  connected  with  the  worshi])  of 
Mount  T'ai  in  Shan-tung  (Chavannes,  Lc  T'ai  Chan,  p.  425). 

While  the  Steward  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Chou  dynasty  who  in 
the  main  was  the  superintendent  of  the  jade  insignia  of  rank  was  in 
charge  of  the  mortuary  mouth-jade  and  responsible  for  its  proper  de- 
livery when  occasion  arose,  it  was  not  he  who  was  concerned  with  its 
manufacture.  This  was  the  duty  of  the  chief  in  charge  of  the  jade 
works  {yil  fii)  who  controlled  the  making  of  the  mouth-jade,  the  gannent 
used  in  the  ceremony  of  recalling  the  soul  of  the  dead,  the  angular 
pillow  supporting  the  head  of  the  corjjse  and  a spatula  for  supporting 
the  teeth  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  125). 

Princes  followed  the  observance  of  sending  to  their  equals  on  their 
death,  pieces  of  jade  to  be  placed  in  the  mouth  of  their  deceased  friend 
as  the  last  honor  to  be  rendered.  Special  messengers  were  entrusted 
with  this  token  who  fulfilled  their  task  as  described  in  the  Z,f  ki  (Tsa 
ki  II,  31)  as  follows:  “The  messenger  with  the  mouth-jade  " holding  a 
jade  ring  {pi)  announced  his  message  in  these  words,  ‘ My  humble 
prince  has  sent  me  [calling  his  name]  with  the  mouth-jade.’  The  assist- 
ant [to  the  son  of  the  deceased]  went  into  the  house  for  report,  and  said 
in  coming  out,  ‘ Our  bereaved  master  [calling  his  name]  is  awaiting  you.’ 
The  bearer  of  the  jade  entered,  ascended  into  the  hall  and  gave  his 
message;  the  son  bowed  to  him  [as  sign  of  thanks]  and  touched  the 
ground  with  his  forehead  [as  sign  of  grief  and  mourning].  The  bearer, 
kneeling,  deposited  the  jade  south-east  of  the  coffin  on  a reed  mat,  or 
after  interment,  on  a msh  mat.  He  then  descended  and  returned  to 
his  place.  An  adjutant  in  court-dress,  but  still  wearing  the  shoes  of 

' Compare  Chavannes,  La  sculpture  sur  pierre  en  Chine,  p.  34. 

’Chavannes,  Se-ma  Ts'ien,  V’ol.  II,  p.  481. 

’ A free  and  correct  rendering  of  this  term,  as  will  be  recognized  from  the  speci- 
mens, would  be  “tongue-amulet.” 


298  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,Vol.  X. 

mourning,  ascended  the  hall  by  the  steps  on  the  western  side,  and 
kneeling,  his  face  turned  to  the  west,  he  took  the  jade  ring.  Then  he 
descended  the  same  western  steps,  going  in  an  eastward  direction.” 
The  mouth-jade  was,  accordingly,  presented  with  rules  of  strict  formal- 
ity, and  it  is  obvious  from  this  passage  that  it  could  be  presented  even 
after  the  funeral  had  taken  place  without  serving  its  purpose  projicr, 
and  that  also  then  the  mourner  was  obliged  to  accept  it;  he  doubtless 
kept  it,  but  in  what  way,  and  to  what  end,  is  unknown.  In  a .similar 
manner,  also  messengers  with  clothes  to  adorn  the  corpse,  and  others 
w'ith  the  gift  of  a carriage  and  horses  w'ere  despatched,  communicating 
their  messages  in  the  same  style  as  previous!)'',  the  whole  procedure 
being  identical  {Tsa  ki  II,  32,  33).  But  it  is  notew'orthy  that  the  bearer 
w'ith  the  present  of  a chariot  and  a team  of  four  yellow  horses  made  his 
report  by  holding  in  his  hands  the  jade  tablet  kuci  which  he  afterwards 
deposited  in  the  south-east  comer  of  the  coffin,  wffience  the  adjutant 
took  it  up  to  leave  it  for  safe-keejiing  in  a building  situated  in  an  easterly 
direction.  It  is  further  w’orth  mentioning  that  it  was  the  adjutant, 
a high  official  in  immediate  attendance  of  the  prince,  w'ho  cared  for  the 
jade  ring  pi  and  the  jade  tablet  kuei,  w'hile  his  assistants  took  charge  of 
the  gannents  and  the  other  gifts.  A higher  value  w'as  therefore  at- 
tached to  those.  It  is  not  expressly  stated  that  the  tablet  kuei  was 
intended  for  burial  too,  but  since  it  w'as  included  among  the  objects 
given  for  this  jiurpose,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  w'as,  and  this 
conclusion  would  furnish  a good  explanation  for  the  fact  that  such  tab- 
lets have  been  found  in  tombs.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear  from  the 
accounts  of  the  Li  ki  that  the  tablet  is  not  a han  yii,  “a  mouth -jade,” 
but  is  distinct  fiom  it,  moving  on  another  line  of  thought.  It  had  no 
reference  to  the  body  of  the  dead,  but  was  a mark  of  honor  bestowed  on 
him. 

Such  were  the  customs  of  the  feudal  lords  wdth  one  another,  the 
offering  of  condolences,  mouth-jade,  grave-clothes,  and  chariots,  and 
all  this  had  to  be  accomplished  on  one  and  the  same  day,  in  the  order 
prescribed  (7'sa  ki  IV,  14). 

A curious  instance  of  an  alleged  or  allegorical  u.se  of  the  mouth-jade 
in  the  case  of  live  jiersons  is  narrated  in  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of 
Wu,  w’hen  King  Fu  Ch'ai  (b.  c.  494-472)  joined  the  duke  of  Lu  to  attack 
the  principality  of  Ts'i.  At  the  point  of  giving  battle.  General  Kung- 
sun  Hia  ordered  his  soldiers  to  chant  funeral  songs;  another  general 
requested  his  men  to  take  into  the  mouth  a piece  of  jade  as  used  for  a 
corpse,  while  still  another  bade  his  men  carry  a rope  eight  feet  long  to 
fetter  the  soldiers  of  Wu  (A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Ou, 
p.  1 2 1).  It  can  hardly  be  surmised  that  the  second  clause  is  to  be  taken 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXXVI 


I 2 839 

4 5a  6 

7 5b 

Tongue-Amulets  for  the  Dead. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XXXVI. 


Figs.  1-4.  Plain  Types  of  Tongue-Amulets. 

Fig.  5.  Tongue-Amulet  carved  in  Shape  of  Realistic  Cicada  (a  Upper,  b Lower 
Face). 

Figs.  6-9.  Tongue-Amulets  showing  conventionalized  Forms  of  Cicada. 


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Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


299 


in  its  real  sense,  for  it  would  be  difficult  to  see  how  a l)and  of  soldiers 
could  be  provided  with  these  jade  pieces  at  a moment’s  notice  just 
before  going  to  battle,  unless  we  should  sujjpose  it  a custom  that  every 
man  should  carry  with  him  his  mouth-jade,  which  is  not  very  probable, 
and  the  general  eould  hardly  expect  that  a man  while  holding  a ]heee 
of  jade  on  his  tongue  could  do  efficient  fighting.  I therefore  understand 
the  sentence  in  a figurative  sense  meaning  to  say  that  the  battle  will 
be  so  fierce  that  every  one  should  be  prepared  for  death  and  burial. 

The  mortuai^"  amulets  in  our  collection  described  on  the  following 
pages  were  procured  in  Si-ngan  fu  from  the  j^rivate  colleetion  of  a well 
knoum  Chinese  scholar  and  archaeologist  who  has  been  engaged  for  many 
years  in  antiquarian  researches  udth  great  success.  For  the  definition 
of  these  objects,  I entirely  depend  on  his  explanations  whieh  agree  with 
the  general  opinions  upheld  in  Si-ngan  fu.  It  will  be  seen  that  there  is 
not  only  the  tongue-amulet  mentioned  in  the  Chou  li,  but  a whole  series 
of  jade  amulets  serving  also  for  the  preser\-ation  of  other  parts  of  the 
body.  The  underhung  idea  evidently  was  to  close  up  all  apertures  of 
the  l)ody  by  means  of  jade,  the  essence  of  the  yang  element  which  was  to 
triumph  over  the  destructive  underground  agencies  of  the  yin  element, 
and  it  is  assumed  that  this  full  equipment  of  the  body  was  developed  in 
the  I Ian  period. ‘ The  characteristics  of  the  jneces  point  to  the  same 
epoch.  This  is  the  most  complete  collection  of  this  kind  on  record,  and 
most  of  these  types  have  not  yet  been  deseribed  by  Chinese  arehaeolo- 
gists. 

Among  the  personal  amulets  worn  by  the  eorpse,  those  to  be  placed 
on  the  tongue  are  most  important  and  frequently  spoken  of  in  the 
ancient  texts.  As  all  these  amulets  are  imitative  of  bodily  foims, 
those  for  the  tongue  are  shaped  in  the  outline  of  this  organ.  There  are 
four  types  of  them,  the  one  plain,  almost  geometrically  constructed, 
the  other  of  a realistic  design  carved  into  the  figure  of  a eicada,  but 
simultaneously  preserving  the  shape  of  a tongue.  A series  of  nine  pieces 
is  illustrated  on  Plate  XXXVI  all  in  natural  size,  the  four  first  being 
of  the  plain  tongue-shaped  type.  The  first  three  are  made  of  the  same 

* The  archaeological  evidence  quite  agrees  with  the  literary  researches  of  De 
Groot,  The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  I,  pp.  271  el  seq.  The  most  important 
quotation  for  our  purpose  is  that  by  Ko  Hung:  ‘‘  If  there  is  gold  and  jade  in  the 
nine  apertures  of  the  corpse,  it  wifi  preserve  the  body  from  putrefaction.”  And 
T'.\0  Hung-king  of  the  fifth  century:  ‘‘When  on  opening  an  ancient  grave  the 

corpse  looks  like  alive,  then  there  is  inside  and  outside  of  the  body  a large  quantity 
of  gold  and  jade.  According  to  the  regulations  of  the  Han  dynasty,  princes  and  lords 
were  buried  in  clothes  adorned  with  pearls,  and  with  boxes  of  jade,  for  the  purpose 
of  preserving  the  body  from  decay.”  The  stuffing  of  the  corpse  with  jade  took  the 
place  of  embalming,  except  that  it  did  not  have  the  same  effect.  In  the  case  of 
the  Han  Emperor  \Vu  (b.  c.  140-87),  the  jade  boxes  mentioned  had  their  lids  carved 
with  figures  of  dragons,  phenixes  and  tortoise-dragons  (/.  c.,  Vol.  II,  p.  401). 


300  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

ivory-colored  * material,  probably  marble,  which  is  decomposed  and 
showinj>;  a rough  surface  in  i and  3,  while  the  original  fine  polish  is 
preserved  in  2.  The  substance  of  3 has  withered  away  so  much  that 
the  ornamentation  has  disappeared  and  deep  holes  are  eaten  into  the 
surfaces.  The  lines  engraved  on  i and  2 explain  themselves  by  serving 
the  pur]iose  of  marking  the  parts  of  the  tongue.  In  all  these  pieces, 
the  medial  iiortion  is  high  and  gradually  slojiing  down  towards  the  edges. 

In  Fig.  I the  under  surface  is  flat,  and  the  tip  is 
slightly  turned  upward.  In  Fig.  2,  the  lower  side 
is  shaped  in  the  same  manner  as  the  upper  one, 
but  laid  out  with  a different  design  of  lines,  as 
will  be  seen  from  Text-Figure  196. 

The  piece  in  Fig.  4,  Plate  XXXVI  is  of  a 
uniformly  pure  milk-white  jade,  the  two  dark 
lines  showing  in  the  photograph  being  yellow  in 
color.  Rounded  over  the  upper  surface,  it  con- 
sists of  two  slanting  jjortions  on  its  lower  side 
with  a short  incision  cut  horizontally  into  the 
medial  line,  in  the  same  way  as  will  be  seen  in 
Fig.  8 of  this  Plate. 

Figures  5-9  of  the  same  Plate  show  five  varia- 
tions of  the  cicada  type,  that  in  5 being  the  most 
realistic,  those  in  8 and  9 being  in  an  adv'anced 
stage  of  conventionalization.  In  Fig.  5 a,  the  two  wings  and  the  body 
are  well  designed ; 5 b displays  the  lower  face  of  the  same  syiecimen.  All 
of  this  type  have  the  two  faces  ornamented  differently.  The  hardened 
earth  incrustations  which  have  ]ienetrated  into  No.  6 will  be  recognized 
in  the  illustration.  Both  5 and  6 are  of  grayish  jade,  and  of  excellent 
workmanship.  No.  7 is  remarkable  for  its  size,  its  color,  and  its  elegant 
technique.  The  color  of  jade  is  blaek  in  the  two  wings  and  the  right 
upper  ])ortion,  and  dark-gray  in  the  central  and  upjier  part.  In  this, 
as  in  so  many  other  cases,  we  have  occasion  to  admire  the  ingenuity  and 
the  color  sense  of  the  artist  in  carving  the  jade  block  in  such  a way  that 
the  colors  were  ajipropriatcly  distributed,  either  to  an  artistic  end,  or  as 
here,  to  lend  an  object  its  real  colors,  a realism  of  color  and  a color  of 
realism.  No.  8 is  the  smallest  and  jilainest  of  this  type  which  I know, 
and  not  omamented  on  the  obverse;  it  is  of  lustrous  white  jade  with  a 
slight  greenish  tinge.  In  the  two  slanting  sides,  it  agrees  with  the  plain 
tongue-shaped  type,  but  the  style  of  carving  shows  that  here  also  the 
figure  of  the  cicada  is  intended.  No.  9 shows  the  specimen  on  its  lower 
face  whieh  is  of  grayish  jade,  but  with  a very  peculiar  chocolate-brown 

•Called  by  the  Chinese  “ehiekenbone-white”  {chi  kit  pai). 


Fig.  196. 

Lower  Face  of  TonKue- 
Aniulet  shown  in  Plate 
XXXVT,  Fig.  2. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  XXXVII 


I 


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2 


3 4 

10 

JADE  AMULETS  FOR  THE  DEAD. 


8 
I I 


5 


9 


explanation  of  PL.  XXXVII. 


Figs.  1-3.  Tooth-Shaped  Tongue-Amulets. 

Figs.  4-5.  Miniature  Tongue-Amulets  for  Women  and  Children. 
Figs.  6-8.  Umbilical  Amulets. 

Figs.  9-1 1.  Prism-Shaped  Amulets. 


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J.ADE. 


301 


portion  in  the  upper  end  with  a narrow  bluish  stripe  below  it.  On  the 
upper  side,  the  two  wings  of  the  insect  arc  brought  out  by  lines  engraved, 
as  in  the  other  specimens.  Only  two  of  them  are  provided  with  a con- 
trivance by  which  they  can  be  fastened.  That  in  No.  5 has  two  small 
holes  of  about  2 mm  in  length  drilled  in  the  upper  edge ; they  communi- 
cate in  the  interior  and  thus  allow  the  passage  of  a wire  or  cord.  The 
object  in  No.  6 is  provided  with  a small  perforated  rounded  handle. 

Also  the  Ku  yii  I'u  illustrates  a han  yii  of  the  cicada  shape,  and  Wu 
Ta-ch'eng  has  two  of  them  in  his  collection.  The  opinion  of  archaeolo- 
gists is  undivided  in  regard  to  this  subject.  Why  the  cicada  was  chosen 
for  this  amulet,  seems  not  to  be  knowTi.  This  idea  may  be  connected 
with  the  memento  mori  brought  out  by  the  figures  of  a cicada  and  mantis 
on  the  Han  jade  buckles  (see  above  p.  264). 

But  still  more  the  peculiar  manner  of  transformation  of  the  insect 
from  the  larva  to  the  pupa,  well  known  to  the  ancient  Chinese,  may  have 
a share  in  the  shaping  of  this  amulet.  The  young  hatch  out  in  a few 
weeks,  drop  to  the  ground,  and  may  penetrate  as  deep  as  twenty  feet 
below  the  surface.  After  a long  subterranean  existence,  the  pupa  trans- 
formed from  the  larva  crawls  out  of  the  ground,  the  .skin  splits,  and  the 
adult  winged  insect  emerges.  The  ob.ser\'ation  of  this  wonderful  process 
of  nature  seems  to  be  the  ba.sic  idea  of  this  amulet.  The  dead  will 
awaken  to  a new  life  from  his  grave,  as  the  chirping  cicada  rises  from  the 
pupa  buried  in  the  ground.'  This  amulet,  accordingly,  was  an  emblem 
of  resurrection. 

The  third  type  of  tongue-amulets  is  represented  on  Plate  XXXVII, 
Figs.  4 and  5.  From  their  miniature  size  we  may  safely  conclude  that 
they  were  employed  for  children  and  women,  judging  from  the  fairly 
established  rule  that  all  objects  relating  to  them  arc  made  on  a smaller 
scale  than  those  relating  to  man.  They  are  flat,  only  1-3  mm  thick 
and  not  ornamented  on  the  lower  side;  from  a trapezoidal  base  in  which 
tw’o  incisions  are  deeply  cut  merges  the  oval  tongue-sha]jcd  part  set 
off  by  two  parallel  engraved  lines  at  the  lower  end  to  which  another  band 
of  two  lines  corresponds  in  the  upper  portion.  All  these  incisions  are 
filled  with  a hardened  reddish  clay.  It  will  be  noticed  that  there  are 
two  perforations,  one  in  the  upper  left  ])art  and  another  in  the  lower 
right  part  drilled  through  the  incised  line.  Thus,  these  objects  must 
have  been  fastened,  and  it  seems  plausible  to  infer  that  the  silk  thread 

• The  notion  which  the  ancient  Chinese  affiliated  with  the  cicada  will  be  best 
gleaned  from  a passage  in  the  philosopher  Wang  Ch'ung  (Forke,  Lun-H6ng,  Part  I, 
p.  200):  “Prior  to  its  casting  off  the  exuvise,  a cicada  is  a chrysalis.  When  it  casts 
them  off,  it  leaves  the  pupa  state,  and  is  transformed  into  a cicada.  The  vital  spirit 
of  a dead  man  leaving  the  body  may  be  compared  to  the  cicada  emerging  from  the 
chrysalis." 


302  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

]iassing  through  the  hole  on  the  one  side  was  wound  around  a molar 
tooth  on  the  left,  and  the  other  attached  to  a molar  on  the  right  side 
of  the  mouth.  The  color  of  jade  is  dark-gray. 

The  pieces  in  Figs,  i,  2 and  3 of  the  same  Plate  XXXVI  are  explained 
also  as  tongue-amulets  {ya  she),  though  they  are  rather  modeled  like 
teeth  * and  give  the  impression  of  being  tooth-jjrotectors.  The  three 
objects  show  the  same  shape  and  the  same  design  of  meander  slightly 
engraved  into  the  surface;  they  are  made  of  the  same  material  which 
is  a light  grajTsh  jade,  and  differ  only  in  thickness  which  is  i,  4 and  3 
mm  respectively. 

They  are  perforated  near  the  base,  and  there  is  a notch  cut  into  the 
lower  edge  just  facing  the  perforation,  another  notch  on  the  inner 
concave  side,  and  two  notches  opposite  on  the  convex  side,  so  that  the 
thread  jiassing  through  the  perforation  must  have  been  reeled  over  these 
notches.  This  peculiar  method  leads  me  to  think  that  pieces  of  this 
type  could  have  been  tied  to  a single  tooth  only,  and  that,  taking  their 
shape  into  consideration,  they  rather  serv'cd  for  the  preservation  of  the 
teeth.  The  commentator  Kia  Kung-yen  of  the  eighth  century  remarks 
that  the  mouth-jade  supported  the  posterior  molar  teeth  on  both  sides, 
and  that,  in  the  case  of  an  emperor,  it  was  in  the  shape  of  the  circular 
disk  pi,  though  on  a smaller  scale  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  125,  Note  7;  p.  492, 
Note  3).  Both  these  statements  are  improbable  for  technical  reasons. 
The  Chinese  were  and  are  practical  people,  and  would  not  have  com- 
mitted themselves  to  the  technical  blunder  of  jjlacing  a circular  object 
between  the  teeth;  this  opinion  is,  besides,  such  a late  reflection  that, 
also  for  this  reason,  it  does  not  deser\'e  much  credence.^  There  is  a 
more  trustworthy  view  on  hand  uttered  by  Cheng  Tung  of  the  first 
century  a.  d.  The  chief  of  the  imperial  jade  iactoTyJ^y-u  fu)  of  the  Chou 
dynasty  made,  besides  the  tongue-amulet  for  the  deceased  sovereign, 
also  an  angular  pillow  for  the  su^iport  of  the  head  of  the  corpse,  and  an 
angular  spatula  {kio  se).  Cheng  Tung  annotates  that  this  spatula 
had  seven  corners,  and  that,  according  to  the  I li,  it  is  used  to  support 
the  teeth  of  the  dead,  whereupon  the  mouth-jade  is  jdaced  on  the 
tongue  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  125,  Note  10).  Our  three  specimens  in  Figs. 
1-3  of  Plate  XXXVIl  which  are  indeed  spatulas  come  very  near  to 
this  description  and  might  be  identified  udth  these  objects. 

For  the  preservation  of  the  eyes,  a pair  of  oval  pieces  carved  from 

'Their  similarity  in  shape  with  implements  to  loosen  knots  (Figs.  148,  149) 
will  be  noted. 

’ His  statement  that  the  mouth-jade  of  the  Chou  emperors  was  in  the  shape  of 
the  disk  pi  is  doubtless  suggested  by  the  new  regulation  of  the  K'ai-yuan  Code  of 
the  T’ang  dynasty  where  it  is  stipulated  for  the  first  time  that  the  disk  should  form 
the  mouth-jade  of  the  officials  of  the  first,  second  and  third  ranks  (see  De  Groot, 
The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  I,  p.  278). 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XXXVIII. 


Jade  amulets  for  the  Dead. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XXXVill. 

Fig,  la  and  b.  Pair  of  Eye-Protecting  Amulets. 
Fig.  2.  Presumably  Eye-Amulet. 

Fig.  3.  Eye-Amulet  with  Design  of  Fish. 

Figs.  4-7.  Lip-Amulets,  4 and  7 in  Shape  of  Fish. 
Figs.  8-9.  Amulets  in  the  Shape  of  Monsters. 


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303 


Feb.,  1912. 


milk-white  jade  was  used  (Plate  XXXVIII,  Figs,  i a and  i b),  pointed 
and  perforated  at  both  ends,  the  silk  cords  having  presumably  been 
tied  all  around  the  face  and  head.  The  two  pieces  constituting  a pair 
— the  only  instance  to  my  knowledge  of  a pair  ever  found  — are  plain, 
flat  on  the  under  side,  and  convex  or  arched  over  the  surface.  Their 
present  designation  is  ya  yen-king  (“pressing  the  eyes”)-  The  object 
in  Fig.  3 of  the  same  Plate  car\-ed  from  grayish  jade  with  a chalk-white 
clayish  mass  spread  in  the  lower  section,  which  the  Chinese  wongly 
attribute  to  the  presence  of  mercur\',  served  the  same  purpose  and  is 
evidently  moulded  in  the  shape  of  a fish,  as  indicated  by  the  lines 
setting  off  the  head;  on  the  back,  the  same  ornamentation  is  shown, 
except  that,  in  place  of  one  spiral,  two  are  engraved  side  by  side.  This 
I)iece  is  flat  on  both  sides  wdth  a unifonn  thickness  of  2 mm. 

The  fish  as  an  object  covering  the  eye  of  the  dead  may  be  interpreted 
as  the  symbol  of  watchfulness. ‘ Never  closing  its  eyes,  it  is  constantly 
wakeful.  A padlock,  protecting  from  thieves,  is  called  a “fish-eye” 
(Petillon,  p.  497).  The  night  rattle  used  in  Buddhist  monasteries  is 
carved  from  wood  in  the  shape  of  a carp  {mn  li,  “wooden  carp”).  The 
“wooden  fish”  in  the  Buddhist  temples  is  well  known,  and  Pischel 
(Der  Ursprung  des  christlichen  Fischs^Tubols,  p.  24)  is  quite  right  in 
stating  that  the  Chinese  explanation  furnished  to  him  by  Dr.  Franke 
from  the  Chi  ycn^  docs  not  agree  with  the  Indian  way  of  thinking; 
certainly  because  this  idea  is  Chinese,  and  not  Indian.  Whether  in 
Fig.  2 a fish  is  intended,  I cannot  assert  positively;  on  the  reverse,  an 
eye  is  indicated  by  an  engraved  circle.  Nor  do  I feel  certain  of  iden- 
tifying this  object  with  an  eye-amulet,  though  this  is  the  Chinese  ex- 
planation given  me.  It  mainly  deviates  from  the  others  of  its  kind  in 
having  a perforation  only  on  one  side  in  the  extreme  right  tip  drilled 
vertically  through  the  lateral  edges  (not  as  in  the  others  from  top  to 
bottom),  which  would  warrant  the  conclusion  that  it  was  rather  used 
as  a girdle-pendant. 

The  amulets  represented  in  Figs.  4-7  of  the  same  Plate  XXX\  III 
were  placed  on  the  upper  lip  to  cover  and  preserve  the  mustache  (ya 
hn-lse).  They  are  curved  in  the  shape  of  a half-circle,  the  two  in  4 and 
7 clearly  imitating  the  form  of  a fish.  The  piece  in  6 is  plain,  of  a jade 

* Compare  the  essay  of  Paul  Carus,  The  Fish  as  a Mystic  Symbol  in  China  and 
Japan,  in  the  July  Number  of  The  Open  Court,  1911. 

^The  San  ts'ai  t'u  hui  and  T'u  shu  tsi  ch'ing  have  a different  explanation  as 
follows;  “The  'wooden  fish’  is  carved  from  wood.  It  has  the  shape  of  a fish,  and  is 
hollow.  If  one  strikes  its  centre,  it  emits  sounds.  The  Buddhist  priests  call  it 
‘Jambuti.’  It  is  a huge  sea-fish  which  carries  it.  As  it  constantly  feels  an  itching 
sensation,  its  fins  are  excited,  and  mountains  and  countries  are  shaken  by  it.  For 
this  reason  they  imitate  its  form  and  strike  it,  but  this  is  merely  idle  talk.  Nowadays 
it  aids  the  Buddhist  priests  in  chanting  their  Sanskrit  prayers,  and  all  make  use  of 
it.” 


304  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

milk-white  in  color,  rounded  on  both  sides,  flattened  at  the  ends  which 
are  perforated,  and  on  the  whole  half-circular  in  shape.  The  jade  in 
Fig.  4 is  light-gray  in  color,  that  in  5 buff-colored.  Some  kind  of  mon- 
ster is  aiijiarently  intended;  the  tail  is  rolled  up  in  a spiral,  and 
the  head  is  turned  backwards;  it  looks,  judging  from  the  trunk, 
like  that  of  an  elephant  or  tapir.*  The  same  carving  is  brought 
out  with  accurate  agreement  on  both  sides  of  this  piece,  and  the 
work  of  engraving  is  very  fine.  This  piece  has  only  one  perforation; 
it  is  2 mm  thick. 

Figure  7 is  a carving  of  gray  jade  with  a few  reddish  specks;  the  fish 
intended  is  possibly  a carp.  The  gills  are  indicated  by  cross-hatchings, 
and  the  scales  by  spirals,  both  sides  displacing  identical  designs. 

The  two  objects  on  Plate  XXXVIII  in  Figs.  8 and  9 are  added  here 
only  for  the  reason  that  they  belong  to  this  grouji  from  a typological 
viewpoint;  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  served  the  same  purpose.  It 
will  be  recognized  that  the  design  of  the  mon.stcr  in  Fig.  8 exactly  tallies 
with  the  one  in  Fig.  5 of  the  same  Plate,  and  that  Fig.  9 exhibits  a 
squatting  monster  of  a similar  type  also  with  a curled-up  spiral  tail  and 
elephant -head  looking  forward  (not  backward  as  in  the  two  others); 
also  two  feet  are  delineated  in  this  carvdng.  The  two  pieces  show 
identical  designs  on  both  faces,  and  are  of  a dark-green  jade  not  iden- 
tical with  the  modern  Yunnan,  Burmese  and  Turkistan  green  jade;  they 
have  been  buried  underground  for  a long  period,  being  coated  on  their 
lower  sides  with  a thick  hardened  layer  of  an  earthy  matter  which 
through  the  action  of  some  mineral  has  assumed  a brownish-red  tinge 
affeeting  partially  also  the  upper  face.  They  are  4-5  mm  thick. 

The  three  round  objects  represented  in  Figs.  6-8  on  Plate  XXXVII 
were  used  to  be  placed  on  the  umbilic  of  the  corpse  {ya  tu-ts'i).  The 
s>Tnbolism  with  reference  to  this  part  of  the  body  is  self-evident.  The 
piece  in  Fig.  6 of  this  Plate,  of  whitish  jade  with  black  veins,  is  a knob 
flat  on  the  lower  side,  bearing  a relief  design  in  the  centre  which  I take 
to  be  a symbolic  representation  of  the  navel  itself,  encircling  the  well 
known  ornamental  form  of  the  character  shoii  “longevity,”  which  so 
frequently  appears  in  connection  with  the  dead,  also  nowadays  painted 
on  the  coffin  or  embroidered  on  the  drajieries  covering  the  catafalque. 
The  piece  in  Fig.  7 is  of  gray  jade  interspersed  with  broM-nish  specks 
(dark  in  the  illustration).  The  central  portion  is  slightly  raised  over 
the  outer  zone  which  is  occupied  by  five  engraved  double  spirals;  four 
of  these  are  grouped  around  a quadrangular  figure;  the  same  arrange- 
ment of  ornamentation  is  applied  to  Fig.  8.  Also  in  the  piece  in  Fig.  1, 

* Representations  of  both  animals  are  frequent  in  the  Chou  and  Han  periods  (see 
Chinese  Pottery  pp.  152,  170,  171,  207). 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


305 


the  spiral  designs  appear  along  the  edge.  The  specimen  in  Fig.  2 has, 
corresponding  to  the  raised  circle  on  the  upper  surface,  a circle  incised 
on  the  reverse,  in  which  three  shallow  oval  cavities  grouped  around 
two  apertures  are  eut  out.  In  Fig.  3,  only  a eircle  is  engraved  on  the 
baek.  This  object  is  buff-colored,  presumably  due  to  underground 
decomposition.  It  will  be  noticed  that  these  three  umbilieal  amulets 
bear  a certain  resemblance  to  those  e.xplained  by  Wu  as  cap-buttons 
(Figs.  154,  155)  which  I think  may  rather  belong  to  this  class. 

In  Figs.  9-1 1 of  Plate  XXXVH,  three  tubes,  oetagonal  in  eut,  are 
shown,  said  to  have  been  inserted  into  the  urethra  of  the  corpse.  Others 
explain  that  they  were  stuck  into  the  nostrils,  which  is  absurd  as  they 
are  too  long  and  too  big  for  this  purpose.  These  pieces  should  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  jade  signets  called  kang-mao  described  by  Dr. 
Bushell  in  the  work  of  Bishop  which  show  a merely  outward  resemblance 
to  this  type,  but  are  much  shorter  and  perforated,  while  these  objects 
are  solid.  That  in  Fig.  9 is  of  a brownish  and  bluish-black  jade  in  an 
advanced  state  of  decomposition,  gradually  tapering  below,  the  diameter 
of  the  upper  octagonal  surface  being  1.3  and  that  of  the  lower  i em. 
The  pieees  represented  in  Figs.  10  and  ii  are  carved  from  a yellowish- 
gray  jade,  uniformly  thiek,  the  sides  of  the  former  slightly  curved  in, 
those  of  the  latter  being  straight. 


/ 


IX.  JADE  OBJECTS  USED  IN  DRESSING  THE 

CORPSE 

Before  post-mortem  rigidity  {rigor  mortis)  ^ set  in,  it  was  necessary  to 
place  the  corpse  in  the  proficr  position  for  burial,  to  dress  it  with  the 
grave-clothes,  and  to  see  that  all  parts  of  the  clothing  were  in  suitable 
shape  and  remained  unchangeable.  A number  of  objects  have  there- 
fore been  devised  to  act  as  weights  on  the  limbs,  and  as  special  care  was 
taken  in  keeping  the  long  sleeves  in  order,  such  pieces  were  especially 
made  to  be  placed  on  the  sleeves  of  the  shroud,  and  are  therefore  desig- 
nated by  archaeologists  in  Si-ngan  fu  ya-siu,  i.  e.  objects  pressing  the 
sleeves.  These  objects  were  turned  out  of  pottery,  bronze,  and  jade. 
I had  occasion  to  publish  a piece  of  pottery  of  this  kind,^  without  being 
aware,  at  that  time,  of  its  proper  use.  During  my  second  expedition 
to  China  I obtained  two  other  specimens  of  the  same  type,  but  of  differ- 
ent ornamentation.  They  are  here  figured  on  Plate  XXXIX.  The 
one  (Fig.  i)  is  a rather  flat  hollow  disk  of  thin  gray  clay  unglazcd,  with 
a diameter  of  9.5  cm.  The  decoration  is  moulded  in  slight  relief  and 
arranged  in  concentric  zones,  on  both  sides  identical,  but  with  this 
difference  that  on  the  one  side  the  star-figure  in  the  inner  zone  is  com- 
posed of  eight  triangles  and  that  in  the  outer  zone  of  nine,  while  on  the 
opposite  side  the  inner  star-figure  has  only  seven,  but  the  outer  twelve 
triangles.  Also  on  the  piece  referred  to  there  is  a similar  star  having 
six  points  on  the  one  and  seven  points  on  the  other  side,  so  that  this 
difference  must  be  intentional  and  have  some  meaning.  The  triangles 
of  these  stars  are  filled  with  dots  arranged  in  the  figure  of  a pyramid, 
while  the  triangles  arising  between  them  are  each  occupied  with  a design 
familiar  to  us  under  the  name  triskcles.  The  circle  in  the  centre  is 
filled  udth  a three-leaved  rosette.  A large  four-leaved  rosette  is  the 
main  ornament  on  both  sides  of  the  other  ya-siu  (Fig.  2)  which  is  12  cm 
in  diameter,  high  in  the  centre  (5.3  cm)  and  gradually  sloping  towards 
the  edge.  Both  these  pieces  originate  from  graves  of  the  Han  ]5eriod. 

During  the  Chou  d>masty,  as  the  actual  finds  from  the  graves  teach 
us,  these  weights  for  the  corpse  were  of  a much  different  shape  and  de- 
sign. There  are  two  beautiful  specimens  in  our  collection,  both  from 

* An  evanescent  stiffening  of  all  the  muscles  of  the  body  occurring  shortly  after 
death  and  affecting  the  neck  and  lower  jaw  first,  then  the  upper  extremities,  and 
finally  reaching  the  lower  limbs. 

’Chinese  Potteiy  of  the  Han  Dynasty,  Plate  LIX,  2,  where  the  note  on  p.  173 
due  to  misinformation,  has  now  to  be  cancelled. 

306 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


n 


Clay  Disks  of  Han  Period,  Used  in  Dressing  the  Corpse. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY, 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XL. 


• 3 2 

4‘1  5 4b 

4C 

Jade  AND  Bronze  Objects  of  the  Chou  Period,  used  in  dressing  the  Corpse. 


EXPLANATION  OF  PL.  XL. 


Fig.  I.  Jade  Knob  with  Relief  of  Frog. 

Fig.  2.  Cast-Bronze  Knob  with  Relief  of  Frog. 

Fig.  3.  Bronze  Cast  of  Realistic  Tigerhead. 

Fig.  4 a and  b.  Pair  of  Monsters  in  Hollow  Bronze  Cast. 

Fig.  4 c.  The  Same,  Side-View. 

Fig.  5.  Bronze  Cast  with  same  Design,  on  Smaller  Scale,  used  for  Women. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


307 


that  period,  the  one  being  a ya-siu  in  jade,  the  other  of  bronze  or  copper, 
both  of  half-globular  fonn  and  showing  exactly  the  same  design  of  a 
frog  brought  out  in  high  relief.  The  one  (Plate  XL,  Fig.  i)  is  finely 
carved  from  a light  grajdsh-green  and  black -veined  jade  with  a diameter 
of  6.5  cm  over  the  circular  basis  and  a height  of  4 cm.  The  correspond- 
ing bronze  piece  is  a solid  cast  with  a diameter  of  6.2  cm  and  a height 
of  3.5  cm.  The  only  difference  in  the  delineation  of  the  two  creatures 
is  that  the  one  in  jade  has  four  toes  on  each  foot,  the  other  three  toes 
represented.  It  is  important  to  note  that  each  is  provided  with  four 
feet  which  excludes  the  possibility  of  regarding  it  as  the  three-legged 
mythical  frog  ch'an  yii,  the  emblem  of  the  moon.  Attention  may  be 
called  right  here  to  the  small  jade  carvdng  of  a frog  found  in  a grave  of 
the  Han  period  (Plate  XLII,  Fig.  2).  This  is  also  a four-footed  frog 
with  three  toes,  in  a squatting  position;  the  head  is  rather  massive  in 
proportion,  the  mouth  being  indicated  by  an  incised  half-circular  line, 
the  two  eyes  by  two  concentric  circles.  This  piece  is  only  3.2  cm  long 
and  2 cm  high,  carved  from  a pure  white  jade,  but  covered  with  an 
ivory-colored  layer  of  hardened  earth. 

In  the  Si  king  tsa  ki,  it  is  on  record:  “The  King  of  Kuang-ch'uan  ^ 
opened  the  grave-mound  of  Duke  Ling  of  Tsin  ^ and  found  there  a 
striped  toad  of  jade  {yU  ch'an-yii)  of  the  size  of  a fist  and  hollow  inside, 
holding  half  a pint  (5  ko),^  and  covered  with  a water-like  gloss,  as  if  it 
were  new.” 

To  return  to  our  ya-siu,  there  remain  three  more  interesting  bronze 
specimens  of  the  Chou  period  to  be  considered  (Plate  XL).  All  three 
are  hollow  casts  moulded  over  a clay  core  which  still  sticks  partially 
in  the  piece  representing  a tiger-head.  I presume  that  the  core  was 
left  inside  intentionally  to  increase  the  weight  of  these  objects.  Of  the 
first  of  these  (Figs.  4 a and  b)  I obtained  a pair  and  thus  conclude  that 
these  pieces  have  all  been  made  in  pairs,  naturally  to  cover  the  two 
sleeves.  Another  interesting  fact  may  be  gathered  from  a comparison 
of  the  two  pieces  in  Figs.  4 and  5 which  are  identical  in  shape  and  design, 
but  differ  considerably  in  dimensions;  the  one  is  6.5  cm  long,  4.5  cm 
wade,  and  5 cm  high;  while  the  other  one  is  only  3 by  2.5  cm  with  a 
height  of  2.4  cm.  The  bigger  one  was  used  in  the  burial  of  men,  the 
smaller  in  the  burial  of  women,  according  to  Chinese  information,  which 

*A  kingdom  of  the  Han  period  (Ch.'VVANNES,  Se-ma  Ts’ien,  Vol.  II,  p.  497, 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  99). 

* B.  c.  620-607  (Chavannes,  /.  c.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  311-316). 

’ Only  added  to  impart  an  idea  of  the  volume;  it  does  not  mean  that  the  object 
in  question  served  as  a measure  of  capacity.  — Regarding  the  folklore  of  the  frog 
in  China  compare  De  Groot,  Die  antiken  Bron^epauken  {Milteilungen  des  Seminars 
fiir  Or.  Sprachen,  Vol.  IV,  i,  pp.  104-107);  Hirth,  Chinesische  Ansichten  iiber 
Bronzetrommeln,  pp.  27-32;  Ch.avanses,  Le  T’ai  Chan,  p.  496. 


3o8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

I think  is  a plausible  explanation.  The  two  pieces  show  traces  of  gilding 
and  resemble  helmets  in  their  shape  and  are  moulded  into  the  figure 
of  a curious  monster  which  it  is  difficult  to  name.  It  seems  to  me  that 
it  is  possibly  some  fabulous  giant  bird,  for  on  the  sides,  two  wings,  each 
m.arked  with  five  pinions,  are  brought  out;  a long  curved  neck  rises 
from  below  and  ends  in  a head  on  the  top;  it  seems  to  terminate  in  a 
beak,  though  the  two  triangular  ears  do  not  fit  the  conception  of  a bird. 
A rectangular  crest  emerges  above  the  head.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
here  the  same  principle  of  artistic  arrangement  in  the  parts  of  the 
monster  is  followed  as  in  the  previous  example  of  the  frog. 

In  the  .smaller  one  of  the  two  a flat  bottom  is  inserted  which  is  missing 
in  the  other  piece.  It  had  been  also  there,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
presence  of  four  teeth  inside  near  the  base,  for  the  purpose  of  holding 
the  bottom. 

In  the  ya-slu  of  Fig.  3,  Plate  XL  (4.5  cm  long  and  wide,  3.5  cm  high), 
a tiger-head  is  ijroduced  with  felicitous  realism.  The  open  jaws  exhibit 
four  fangs,  a row  of  incisors  and  two  pairs  of  the  molars  on  either  side. 
The  head  rises  from  a rounded  bronze  plaque  and  is  provided  ’with  a 
large  oiicning  on  either  side  near  the  base,  apparently  for  the  passage 
of  a cord.  It  looks  as  if  this  piece  had  been  fastened  in  this  way  around 
the  wrist  of  the  corpse.  The  religious  significance  of  the  tiger  has 
been  discussed  above  p.  182. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY, 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  XLI 


1 

2 

3 

JadeICarvings  of  Fishes. 


explanation  ofIPl.  XLI. 


Figs.  1-2.  Mortuary  Fishes,  Han  Period. 

Fig.  3.  For  Comparison:  Modem  Carving  of  Fish  with  Lotus  Flowers. 


X.  JADE  CARVINGS  OF  FISHES,  QUADRUPEDS 
AND  HUMAN  FIGURES  IN  THE  GRAVE 


We  have  seen  that  among  the  jade  amulets  placed  on  the  corpse 
to  prevent  its  decay  the  fish  occurs  on  the  eye  and  lip-amulets.  But 
there  are  also  instances  of  large  se]>arate  carvings  representing  fishes 
which  have  no  relation  to  the  bod}',  but  have  been  placed  in  the  coffin 
for  other  reasons. 

On  Plate  XLI  two  mortuary  jade  fishes  unearthed  from  graves  of  the 
Han  i^criod  arc  figured.  The  one  in  Fig.  i is  a marvellous  carving  of 
exceedingly  fine  workmanship,  all  details  having  been  brought  out  with 
patient  care.  It  represents  the  full  figure  of  a fish,  both  .sides  being 
carved  alike,  20  cm  long,  1 1 cm  wide,  and  2 cm  thick,  of  a dark  spinach- 
green  jade.  A small  piece  has  been  chipped  off  from  the  tail-fin.  There 
is  a small  eye  in  the  dorsal  fin  and  a larger  one  below  in  the  tail-fin.  It 
is  therefore  likely  that  the  object  was  .suspended  somewhere  in  the 
coffin;  it  is  too  large  and  too  heavy  (it  weighs  impounds)  to  have 
served  for  a girdle-ornament.  In  this  way, — with  comparatively 
large  bearded  head  and  short  body,  — the  Chinese  represent  a huge 
sea-fish  called  ngao  (Giles  No.  ioo).  Such  large  and  fine  jade  carvings 
are  likely  to  have  had  a religious  significance,  and  the  following  passage 
may  throw  some  light  on  this  subject. 

“In  the  Han  Palace  Kun  ming  ch'ih  a piece  of  jade  was  carved  into 
the  figure  of  a fish.  Whenever  a thunderstonn  with  rain  took  place, 
the  fish  constantly  roared,  its  dorsal  fin  and  its  tail  being  in  motion. 
At  the  time  of  the  Han,  they  offered  sacrifices  to  this  fish  in  their  prayers 
for  rain  which  were  always  fulfilled.”  '■ 

In  Fig.  2 of  the  same  Plate  XLI,  a fragment,  perhaps  onl}^  the  half 
of  the  original  figure,  is  represented  carved  in  the  shape  of  a fish  of 
leaf-green  jade  clouded  with  white  specks,  on  the  lower  face  covered 
with  a thick  layer  of  hardened  loess.  It  is  11.5  cm  long,  4.2  cm  wide, 
and  9 mm  thick. ^ 

While  the  religious  symbolism  formerly  connected  with  the  fish  has 
almost  disappeared  it  continues  as  a favorite  ornament,  and  jade  girdle 
pendants  in  the  shape  of  fishes  are  still  much  in  use.  Fig.  3 of  the  same 

^ Si  king  tsa  ki,  quoted  in  P'ei  wen  yiinfu,  Ch.  i(X)  A,  p.  6 a. 

’ In  the  July  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Tokyo  (Vol. 
XXVII,  1911),  there  is  an  article  by  Prof.  S.  Tsuboi  describing  some  interesting 
figures  of  animals  of  chipped  flint,  one  of  them  representing  a well-formed  fish 
(P-  132). 

309 


310  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antil,  Vol.  X. 

Plate  XLI,  represents  sucli  a modem  carving  of  white  jade  showing  a 
fish  surrounded  by  lotus-flowers  (9.8  cm  long,  4 cm  wide).  The  con- 
trast between  this  modem  and  the  two  ancient  pieces  in  design  and 
technique  is  evident. 

The  butterfly  carved  from  white  and  brownish-yellow  jade  (Plate 
XLI  I,  Fig.  i)  is  a unique  specimen  among  mortuary  offerings.  It  is 
alleged  by  those  who  found  it  that  it  originates  in  the  grave-mound  of 
the  famous  Emperor  Ts'in  Shih  (b.  c.  246-211)  near  the  town  of  Lin- 
tung  which  is  50  li  to  the  east  of  Si-ngan  fu.  I am  not  fully  convinced 
that  this  is  really  the  case,  though  any  positive  evidence  pro  or  contra 
this  assertion  is  lacking;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that,  judging  from  its 
appearance  and  technique,  this  is  a burial  object  of  considerable  age 
and  unusual  workmanship,  such  as  is  likely  to  have  been  buried  with  a 
personage  of  high  standing  only.  It  is  a flat  carving  (12.6  X 7.6  cm, 
0.5  cm  thick)  both  in  o])cn-work  and  engraved  on  both  faces,  the  two 
designs,  even  in  numbei  of  strokes,  being  perfectly  identical.  The 
work  of  engraving  is  executed  with  great  care,  the  lines  being  equally 
deep  and  regular.  We  notice  that  a plum-blossom  pattern  is  brought 
out  between  the  antennae  of  the  butterfly;  it  is  the  diagram  of  a flower 
revealing  a certain  tendency  to  naturalism,  which  seems  to  bring  out 
the  idea  that  the  butterfly  is  hovering  over  the  flower.  "W'e  further 
observe  four  designs  of  plum-blossoms,  of  the  more  conventional  char- 
acter, carved  d jour  in  the  wings.  The  case  is  therefore  analogous  to 
that  illustrated  on  a Han  bronze  vase  (“Chinese  Pottery  of  the  Han 
Dynasty,”  p.  283). 

It  is  known  that  in  modem  times  the  combination  of  butterfly  and 
plum-blossom  is  used  to  express  a rebus  (met  tieh)  with  the  meaning  “Al- 
ways great  age”  (W.  Grube,  Zur  Pekinger  Volkskunde,  j).  139).*  It 
is  difficult  to  say  whether,  in  that  ])eriod  to  which  this  specimen  must 
be  referred,  this  notion  was  already  valid,  though  the  ]iossibility  must 
be  admitted  in  view  of  the  early  rebuses  traced  by  A.  Conrady  (preface 
to  Stentz,  Beitriige  zur  ^’olkskunde  Siid-Schantungs).  It  would, 
however,  be  erroneous  to  believe  that  the  rebus  in  all  cases  ])resented 
the  prius  from  which  the  ornament  was  deduced,  for  most  of  these 
ornamental  components  are  much  older  and  may  even  go  beyond  an 
age  where  the  fonnation  of  rebuses  was  possible.  The  rebus  was  read 
into  the  ornaments,  in  well-nigh  all  cases;  while  other  single  ornaments 
were  combined  into  complex  compositions  with  the  intention  of  bringing 
out  a rebus.  It  is  not  the  rebus  which  has  created  the  ornaments,  but 

it  is  the  ornament  which  has  elicited  and  developed  the  rebus ; the  rebus 

« 

' There  is  also  the  interpretation  hu-tieh  nao  met  “ the  butterfly  playfully  fluttering 
around  plum-blossoms”  alluding  to  long  life  and  beauty  (Ibid.,  p.  138,  N'o.  15). 


» • I 

a*R  » ,iioW-a»qO  oi  Jo  Ilu’I  ,i  si’l 

' .boh0^  o«H  jaM  \o  soivuiD  .t 


Explanation  of  Pl.  XLII. 

Fig.  I.  Full  Figure  of  Butterfly  in  Open-Work,  Ts'in  or  Han  Period. 
Fig.  2.  Carving  of  Frog,  Han  Period. 

Fig.  3.  Carving  of  Man,  Han  Period. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XLII 


# 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


311 

has  merely  shaped,  influenced  and  furthered  the  deeorative  eomposi- 
tions  as  e.  g.  oeeurring  in  the  modem  Peking  embroideries  figured  by 
(inibe.  In  the  present  case,  it  is  quite  obvious  that  the  association  of 
the  butterfly  with  a floral  design  rests  on  natural  grounds,  and  was,  at 
least  not  originally,  provoked  by  a mere  desire  of  punning,  which  is  the 
product  of  a subsequent  development. 

A ^’cr\•  curious  feature  of  this  specimen  is  that  the  two  upper  large 
plum-blossoms  are  carved  out  in  loose  niovable  rings  turning  in  a deeply 
hollowed  groove  but  in  such  a way  that  they  cannot  be  taken  out,  a 
clever  trick  such  as  the  later  authors  designate  as  “devil’s  work”  (kitei 
kung).  This  peculiarity  certainly  had  also  a significance  with  reference 
to  the  mortuary  character  of  the  object.  Such  movable  pieces  are 
designated  by  the  Chinese  as  “living”  {huo)-,  so  we  have  here  two  “liv- 
ing” plum-blossoms  in  distinction  from  the  two  “dead”  plum -blossoms 
below,  and  the  two  former  might  have  possibly  conveyed  some  allusion 
to  a future  life. 

The  carving  of  the  frog  (Plate  XLII,  Fig.  2)  has  been  mentioned 
above  p.  307. 

In  the  ancient  jades  and  bronzes  the  human  figure  is  cons])icuously 
absent.  And  the  jade  carving  representing  a human  figure  (Plate  XLII, 
Fig.  3)  and  ascribed  to  the  Han  period  is  the  only  exception  of  this  kind. 
This  figure,  carved  from  a milk-white  and  black  jade,  is  treated  in  an 
almost  geometric  style.  It  is  flat  (9  mm  thick,  6.4  X 2.3  cm).  An 
old  man  with  long  pointed  beard  is  apparently  intended;  he  is  wearing 
a round  cap  elevated  over  the  hind-part  of  the  head.  The  eyes  are 
marked  by  two  incisions,  and  the  brows  by  two  slight  depressions 
above  them.  The  nose  is  not  represented  nor  are  the  ears.  The  mouth 
is  a line  incised.  The  head  is  sitting  right  on  the  shoulders  without  a 
neck.  There  is  no  intention  to  outline  a body;  even  arms  and  hands 
entirely  disappear  under  the  long  gown,  the  folds  and  borders  of  which 
arc  marked  by  engraved  lines.  The  feet  are  not  represented,  but  tl'.e 
figure  terminates  in  a trapezoidal  base,  on  which  two  half-circles  are 
incised.  These  represent  the  uppers  of  the  shoes  as  .seen  from  the  front. 
Exactly  the  same  trapezoidal  base  is  found  in  a certain  type  of  archaic 
mortuary  clay  figures  of  men  where  the  uppers  of  the  shoes  stick  out 
from  the  surface  just  above  the  lower  edge  of  the  base. 

Nothing  is  known  about  the  moaning  of  a figure  like  this  one  in  the 
grave,  nor  have  I found  as  yet  an  allusion  to  this  subject  in  a text  of  the 
time  of  the  Han  dynasty. 

The  only  .specimen  of  the  Han  period  that  could  be  regarded  as  an 
independent  work  of  plastic  art  is  the  car\dng  of  a reclining  monster 
shown  on  Plate  XLIH.  It  is  cut  out  of  a solid  piece  of  onion-green  jade 


312  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

with  layers  of  brown  patches  strewn  in.  The  head  with  long  beard 
dropping  on  the  breast  is  not  unlike  a dragon-head  except  the  excessively 
large  ears  and  the  indentated  crest.  A full  set  of  teeth  with  four  big 
fangs  is  represented  in  the  open  jaws.  The  conventional  character  of 
the  whole  design  is  manifest.  A liberal  use  is  made  of  the  spiral  — to 
express  the  nostrils,  the  cars,  the  cheek-bones,  the  joints  of  the  legs  * and 
the  tail,  and  the  curly  bushes  of  hair  covering  the  whole  body.  The 
four  feet  stand  out  in  high  relief  from  the  lower  side  and  are  each  provid- 
ed with  four  claws  turned  inward.  As  alluded  to  above,  this  piece  is 
clearly  distinguished  from  all  other  jade  carvdngs  of  the  Han  period  in 
that  it  is  not  a flat  plaque  like  those,  but  a full  realistic  sculptured  figure, 
the  other  side  not  visible  in  the  illustration  being  exactly  the  same  as 
the  one  on  view. 

Such  pieces  are  exceedingly  rare  and  exceptional,  and  it  was  a lucky 
chance  that  I succeeded  in  securing  this  art -work  from  an  old  family  of 
official  standing  in  Si-ngan  fu.  All  Chinese  there,  competent  to  judge, 
place  its  date  in  the  Han  period;  and,  judging  from  the  material  of 
which  it  is  made,  a favorite  jade  of  the  Han  time,  and  also  from  the  style 
of  execution,  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  judgment  is  correct. 

Unusual  as  is  the  workmanship  of  this  carving,  its  dimensions  and 
weight  are  also  remarkable.  It  measures  17  cm  in  length  with  a height 
of  12.2  cm  and  a width  of  6.7  cm,  and  weighs  4^  pounds. 

In  all  likelihood,  the  figure  of  this  monster  is  to  be  identified  with 
the  fabulous  creature  called  p'i-sieh,  the  name  of  which  means  “some- 
thing that  wards  off  evil  influences,  a charm,  an  amulet.”  ^ De  Groot 
has  shown  that,  because  of  the  evil-dispelling  attributes  of  the  animal, 
stone  images  of  it  were  placed  upon  the  tombs  from  the  Han  down  to 
the  T'ang  dynasty;  stone  p'i-sieh  in  connection  with  stone  unicorns, 
elephants,  horses  and  the  like  were  erected  in  front  of  the  mausolea  of 
emperors  and  princes;  stone  tigers,  sheep,  men,  pillars,  and  the  like 
before  those  of  officials.  It  is  therefore  no  matter  of  surprise  that  also 
miniature  p'i-sieh  of  precious  jade  material  were  entombed  in  the 
graves  of  nobles  during  the  Han  dynasty;  for  the  monster  p'i-sieh  was 
a favorite  conception  for  jade  carvings,  and  one  of  these  (Fig.  197) 
derived  from  the  Ku  yii  t'u  would  go  as  far  back  as  beyond  the  Shang 
dynasty,  if  we  could  trust  the  statement  there  made  that  “according  to 
a local  tradition  it  was  found  in  the  grave  of  T'ai-k'ang  (alleged  b.  c. 
2188-2160),  a farmer  having  struck  against  it  ufith  his  hoe.”  Judging 
from  the  design,  as  far  as  may  be  determined  from  these  unsatisfaetory 

‘Compare  Lalfer,  Felszeichnungen  vom  Ussuri  {Globus,  Vol.  LXXIX,  1901, 
p.  70). 

* Compare  De  Groot,  The  Religious  System  of  China,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  1143  et  seq., 
and  above  p.  268 . 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


313 


Chinese  sketches,  1 think  it  is  not  older  than  the  Han  time.  It  is  further 
said  in  the  text  that  in  the  period  Yen-yu  (1314-1321  a.  d.)  Chao  Tse- 
ang  * obtained  this  piece  by  purchase  from  Ch'eng  Chih  and  used  it  as 
a paper-weight,  — one  of  the  many  examples  of  how  Chinese  turn 
antiquities  to  a new  practical  mode  of  u.se. 

The  extravagance  which  the  emperors  of  the  Chou,  Ts'in  and  Han 
d>Tiasties  exercised  in  the  erection  of  their  mausolea,  and  the  wealth  of 
treasures  which  they  had  interred  in  their  vaults  was  stupendous.  One 


Fig.  197. 

Ancient  Jade  Carving  of  the  Monster  p'i-sieh,  used  as  Paper-Weight  by  the  Painter  Chao  Meng-fu 

(from  Ku  yii  I'u). 

third  of  all  the  taxes  of  the  empire  is  said  to  have  been  ajiportioned  by 
the  house  of  Han  to  being  hoarded  in  the  imperial  graves.  When  the 
Emperor  Wu  died  in  b.  c.  87,  his  mausoleum  which  was  seventeen  feet 
high  and  twenty  feet  square,  with  a mound  of  two  hundred  feet  in  diam- 
eter, was  so  filled  up  with  treasures  of  all  kinds  that  nothing  more  could 
be  placed  in  it,  and  insurgents  rifling  the  tomb  were  not  able  to  carry  off 
half  of  the  valuables.  Nine  earriages  w'ere  entombed  with  every  emper- 
or, and  even  live  horses,  leopards,  and  tigers,  one  hundred  and  ninety 
live  animals  being  on  record  in  one  particular  case.  The  reader  may 
be  referred  to  the  description  given  by  De  Groot  (The  Religious  System 
of  China,  Vol.  II,  Ch.  IV).  As  all  these  graves  w'ere  disturbed  and 
pilfered  at  an  early  date,  there  is  little  hope  that  anj^  remarkable  spoils 
will  ever  come  to  light  from  them  in  the  future,  and  w'e  must  be  content 
with  a few'  treasures  which  may  impart  some  idea  at  least  of  the  mag- 
nificence and  glory  of  that  Augustan  age. 

‘Or  Chao  M6ng-fu,  the  famous  painter,  1254-1322.  An  album  containing  six 
horse-paintings  of  his  and  dated  1305  is  in  our  collection. 


314  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous  than  to  pieture  the  Chinese  as  grossly 
material  or  rationalistic  people  given  only  to  worldly  cares  and  affairs, 
as  has  been  so  often  done.  The  grave  and  the  life  hereafter  always 
stood  in  the  centre  of  their  thoughts  and  actions.  The  ancestors  and 
the  grave,  both  in  mutual  connection  and  causal  dependence,  are  the 
groundwork  and  pillars  of  Chinese  society  and  social  development. 
This  is  also  the  only  point  in  which  a credit  for  idealism  can  be  given  to 
the  eastern  world.  The  rapid  advance  made  by  our  civilization  and  the 
hopeful  guaranty  of  its  future  are  not  due  to  our  progress  in  technical 
matters  and  inventions,  but  to  our  idealism  of  thought,  of  work  and 
activity,  to  the  spiritual  idealization  of  life.  There  is  the  one  dominant 
ideal  in  the  life  of  the  Chinaman,  — honorable  or  magnificent  burial, 
a permanent  coffin;  and  a well  furnished  grave.'  He  plods  and  toils 
along  his  whole  life  wdth  this  great  end  in  view,  he  saves  his  pennies 
up  to  enjoy  a better  existence  in  a better  land,  he  lives  indeed  as  much 
for  the  other  as  for  this  life. 


XI. 


VASES  OF  JADE 


Sacrificial  vessels  carved  from  jade  were  employed  during  the  Chou 
period  in  the  ancestral  cult  together  with  bronze  vessels.  Of  great 
archaeological  importance  in  this  lespect  is  the  brief  paragraph  relating 
to  the  offerings  made  in  honor  of  Chou-kung  in  his  ancestral  temple  in 
the  kingdom  of  Lu  {Li  ki,  Ming  t'ang  wei,  9)  who  was  honored  with  the 
same  ceremonies  of  the  solemn  sacrifice  made  by  the  emperor  to  his 
ancestors.  The  victim  was  a white  bull.  Of  bronze  vessels,  they 
employed  three,  the  bronze  figure  of  a bull  {hi),  and  the  bronze  figure 
of  an  elephant,  both  caiTjung  the  vase  tsun  on  the  back,*  and  the  bronze 
vase  lei  vath  hill  patterns.  As  vase  {tsttn)  for  the  fragrant  wine  they 
employed  the  type  called  hiiang  mu  “yellow  eye”  ^ For  the  libations, 
they  used  the  jade  cup  tsan  provided  with  a handle  in  the  shape  of  the 
great  jade  tablet  kuci.  To  present  the  offerings,  they  used  a jade  tazza 
{yii  ton)  ^ and  carv'ed  bamboo  vases.  As  drinking-cup,  they  used  the 
jade  cup  chan  carved  in  the  usual  manner,  and  they  added  the  cups 
called  san  and  the  cups  called  kio,  both  made  of  the  jade  called  pi.* 
A cup  of  this  type  {yii  chan)  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  198  after  Wu  Ta-ch'eng 
,who  proposes  this  identification  on  the  ground  of  the  passage  quoted.® 

‘ It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  the  only  possible  definition  doing  justice  to  the 
archa;ological  faets;  there  are  no  such  things  as  “cups  with  the  figure  of  a victim 
bull,  of  an  elephant,”  as  Legge  translates,  nor  “vases  on  which  an  ox  is  represented,” 
as  proposed  by  Couvreur  who,  however,  adds  also  the  translation  “vase  in  the  shape 
of  an  ox,  of  an  elephant;”  but  it  should  be  understood  that  the  vase  Isun  is  carried 
on  the  backs  of  the  animals,  the  whole  affair  being  made  in  one  cast.  These  two 
vessels  were  doubtless  used  to  receive  the  blood  of  the  sacrificial  bull,  and  are  said 
to  have  originated  at  the  court  of  the  Chou  {Ming  t'ang  wet,  18). 

“ The  vases  tsun  are  usually  decorated  with  the  conventionalized  figures  of  the 
monster  t'ao-t'ieh,  the  eyes  of  which  are  sometimes  indicated  by  inlaid  patches  of 
gold.  In  Ming  t'ang  wei,  20,  this  vessel  is  ascribed  to  the  Chou.  I am  inclined  to 
think  that  htiang  mu  in  many  cases  designates  the  t'ao-t'ieh  itself,  merely  being  its 
epithet.  Thus,  in  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  28,  p.  2)  the  ornaments  of  a jade  axe  (re- 
produced in  Fig.  2)  are  described  as  consisting  of  the  huang  mu  and  the  cicada  pattern, 
and  as  besides  the  latter  only  the  t'ao-t'ieh  is  represented,  it  must  be  identical  with 
the  term  “yellow  eye.” 

’Legge  translates:  “The  dishes  with  the  offerings  were  on  stands  of  wood, 

adorned  wdth  jade  and  carved.”  And  Couvreur:  “des  vases  de  bois  ornes  de 

jade.”  It  is  unnecessary  to  criticise  these  translations  made  without  any  regard 
to  archaeology.  The  yii  tou  are  exactly  what  their  name  implies,  ton  or  tazza  made 
of  jade.  For  illustrations  see  Han  Pottery,  pp.  188,  189.  According  to  Ming  t'ang 
wei,  28,  they  are  connected  with  the  house  of  Yin. 

^ Legge:  “There  were  also  the  plain  cups  and  those  of  horn,  adorned  with 

round  pieces  of  jade.”  Couvreur:  “Lcs  coupes  additionelles  6taient  le  san  et  la 
come,  dont  le  bord  ^tait  orn6  de  jade.” 

’ It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  according  to  the  T'ao  shuo  (Bushell,  Description 
of  Chinese  Pottery,  p.  96),  those  ancient  jade  cups  were  the  prototypes  of  the  por- 
celain cups  made  under  the  Sung,  and  that  under  the  T'ang  they  were  still  turned 
out  of  white  jade  and  designed  for  drinking  wine. 

315 


3i6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 


Jade  Cup  of  the  Chou  Period. 


i 


II 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


317 


Fig.  199. 

Jade  V'ase  of  the  Chou  Period. 


L 


Fig.  200. 

Ancient  Jade  Bowl,  dug  up  in  FSng-siang  fu. 


3i8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

The  Chou  li  mentions  a plate  of  jade  used  in  a ceremony  when  the 
feudal  princes  gave  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor.  An  ox  was 
slaughtered  on  this  occasion,  and  one  of  its  ears  cut  off.  The  partici- 
pants rubbed  their  lips  with  the  blood  as  a sign  of  allegiance.  A basin 
ornamented  with  pearls  contained  the  ear,  and  the  grain  offered  was 
placed  on  the  jade  plate;  but  according  to  another  commentary  no 
grain  w'as  offered  in  this  ceremony,  and  the  plate  w^as  used  to  collect 
the  blood  of  the  victim  (Biot,  Vol.  I,  p.  126).  According  to  Cheng 
Se-nung,  this  vessel  w^aS  of  the  type  called  tui,  and  Wu  Ta-cii'eng  has 
identified  a jade  tui  in  his  collection  with  the  Chou  \'essel  for  administer- 
ing the  oath  (Fig.  199b  “It  is  a red  jade,”  lie  remarks;  “the  patterns 
are  cleverly  carved,  and  it  is  identical  with  the  bronze  vases  tsun  and 
i of  the  Shang  and  Chou  periods;  but  while  the  bronze  tui  are  sacrificial 
vessels,  the  jade  tui  are  covenant  vessels.”  Fig.  200  illustrates  another 
bowi  of  the  same  type  in  his  collection;  it  is  carved  from  w^hite  jade 
of  an  ivory  color  and  was  excavated  near  the  ancient  city  of  Feng- 
siang  fu  in  Shensi  Province. 

If  we  can  depend  upon  the  Li  ki  {Ming  t'ang  wei,  27),  the  Hia 
dynasty  would  have  availed  itself  of  four  vessels  called  lien,  and  the  Yin 
dynasty  of  six  vessels  called  //«,  both  words  formed  with  the  radical 
denoting  “ jade  ” and  described  by  the  commentaries  as  made  of  jade 
and  holding  millet  and  grain  in  the  ancestral  temple. 

Ancient  jade  vases  of  the  Chou  and  Han  periods  are  now  exceedingly 
rare,  even  in  Chinese  collections.  I doubt  if  any  exist  outside  of  China. 
Our  collection  comprises  a representative  series  of  jade  vases  of  later 
epochs  w'hich  may  conv'ey  an  idea  of  the  shapes  and  designs  of  the  an- 
cient pieces  and  may  even  surpass  them  in  beauty  of  workmanship. 
As  in  the  corresponding  bronze  vases  of  the  same  dates,  all  religious 
symbolism  formerly  connected  with  them  is  lost  also  in  the  vessels  of 
jade,  and  the  antique  forms  w'ere  simply  imitated  for  artistic  and  decora- 
tive purposes. 

The  Mongol  emperors  kept  jade  jars  of  tremendous  size  to  hold 
wine.  One  of  these  is  described  as  being  of  black  jade  with  white  veins, 
and  in  accordance  with  these  veins,  fish  and  animals  w’ere  carved  on  the 
jar.  It  W'as  so  big  that  it  could  hold  more  than  thirty  piculs  of  wine 
(Bretsciineider,  Arch,  and  Hist.  Researches  on  Peking,  Chinese 
Recorder,  Vol.  VI,  1875,  P-  319)-  Odoric  de  Pordenone  mentions  in  the 
midst  of  the  Great  Khan’s  palace  a jar  of  a certain  precious  stone  called 
merdacas,  all  hooped  round  w'ith  gold,  in  every  comer  of  w^hich  a dragon 
w'-as  represented  as  in  the  act  of  striking  most  fiercely ; drink  w'as  eon- 
veyed  into  this  vessel  by  conduits  from  the  court  of  the  palace.  The 
w'ord  merdacas  has  not  j^et  been  explained.  I believe  it  is  a corruption 


I 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XLIV. 


a b 

Jade  Vase  of  Sung  Period,  Side  and  Front  Views. 


i 


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u 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


Jade  Cups  and  bowl. 


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Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


319 


from  Mongol  erdeni  kash,  which  means  “precious  jade.”  We  obtain 
a good  idea  of  these  wine-jars  from  a figure  in  the  Sung  Catalogue  of 
Jades  (Ch.  100,  p.  3)  which,  according  to  the  description  in  the  text, 
was  then  known  as  the  largest  worked  piece  of  jade.  This  vessel  stood 
four  feet  four  inches  (Chinese)  in  height;  it  mca.sured  seven  feet  two 
inches  in  circumference,  with  a diameter  of  three  feet  six  inches  over  the 
opening.  It  could  hold  eighty  pints  of  wine,  and  is  stated  to  have  been 
a relic  of  the  Tsin  or  T'ang  period.  A three-clawed  dragon  emerging 
from  the  sea  and  soaring  into  the  clouds  is  carved  on  the  surface  of  the 
jar  which  is  of  bright-white  jade  with  moss-green  marks  and  emerald- 
green  speckles. 

A vase  (13  cm  high  and  5 cm  wide),  carved  from  gray  jade  sprinkled 
with  russet  s])ots,  is  shown  in  two  views  on  Plate  XLIV.  It  is  carved 
with  great  ingenuity  and  full  mastery  of  form,  and  it  seems  justifiable 
to  date  it,  as  Chinese  judges  propose,  in  the  Sung  period  (960-1127  a.  d.). 
The  lower  portion  is  occupied  by  the  figure  of  a monster  (face  in  b,  ])ro- 
filc  in  a)  running  around  the  four  sides,  its  feet  fonning  at  the  same  time 
the  feet  of  the  vase.  Being  carved  in  high-relief,  the  impression  is 
given  that  the  monster  carries  or  supports  the  vessel.  A lizard-like 
hydra  is  climbing  the  edge  and  leaning  on  it  with  its  front-feet.  A 
band  of  triple  scroll-work  is  laid  around  the  body  of  the  vase,  and  a 
band  of  square  meanders  borders  the  rim. 

In  the  jade  cup  illustrated  on  Plate  XLV,  Fig.  i (8  cm  high),  there 
are  two  such  hydras  ascending  the  wall  of  the  cup  leaning  their  chins 
on  the  brim.  In  the  illustration,  one  is  viewed  from  the  back,  and  the 
head  of  the  companion  on  the  opposite  side  is  visible.  The  two  monsters 
are  undercut  and  stand  out  as  almost  independent  figures.  In  the  same 
technique,  the  idum-tree  branches  and  blossoms  arc  treated,  serving 
at  the  same  time  as  handle.  All  details  are  worked  out  with  minutest 
care.  The  head  of  a hydra  is  emerging,  as  if  out  of  a mist,  in  the  front. 
Two  bats  vdth  hydra  heads  are  in  relief  on  the  other  side.  Cloud  pat- 
terns are  spread  along  the  lower  edge  and  on  the  bottom.  The  artistic 
effect  of  this  jiiece  originating  in  the  Ming  period  (1368-1644)  is  greatly 
heightened  by  the  contrasts  of  color,  the  gray  jade  being  intermitted 
in  places  by  deep-brown  and  yellow  tinges,  the  branches  of  the  plum- 
tree  being  brown,  the  heads  of  the  hydras  purple-red,  etc.;  such  features, 
however,  cannot  be  adequately  described,  they  must  be  seen  and  studied 
in  the  object  itself. 

Of  the  same  itcriod  is  the  heavy  jade  bowl  in  Fig.  2 of  the  same  Plate 
XL\',  which  is  shown  from  its  lower  side.  The  carving  is  done  in  three 
layers.  Below  the  rim  an  eight -petallcd  flower  of  conventional  design 
is  brought  out,  and  over  this  one  is  raised  in  high  relief  a bunch  of 


320  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

lotus-stems  jiracefully  siiread  over  the  bottom,  one  stem  with  a large 
leaf  whose  rim  is  turned  uji,  another  with  a seed -pod  surrounded  by 
two  leaves,  others  surmounted  by  young  buds.  I regret  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  make  an  adequate  reproduction  which  would  do  full  justice 
to  all  the  beauties  of  the  design  and  its  execution.  The  interior  of 
the  bowl  is  plain.  It  was  excavated,  and  chemical  effects  underground 
seem  to  have  brought  about  changes  in  the  original  coloring.  It  is 
6.5  cm  high  with  a diameter  of  14.5  cm;  the  thickness  of  the  three 
layers  amounts  to  6,  12,  and  18  mm,  respectively. 

On  Plate  XLVI  arc  illustrated  a set  of  two  vessels,  a ewer  and  a cov- 
ered vase,  carved  from  a fine  cloud-white  translucid  jade  and  attributed 
to  the  ])eriod  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (1368-1644).  The  ewer  is  well 
know'n  as  an  ancient  type  in  bronze  and  pottery.*  A dragon-head  with 
open  jaws  springs  forth  from  the  handle  w'hich  terminates  in  a fish-tail 
below.  As  this  vessel  served  to  pour  out  w’ater  over  the  hands  in  wash- 
ing, the  presence  of  the  dragon  doubtless  had  some  realistic  meaning,  in 
that  the  dragon  as  the  water-giving  animal  was  su])posed  to  spurt  the 
water  from  its  mouth.  The  three  feet,  triangular  in  section,  arc  elegant- 
ly curved  outward,  and  on  the  two  outer  sides  decorated  with  engraved 
meander  patterns  surmounted  by  a monster’s  head  {I'ao-t'ieh)  between 
the  two  front-feet.  The  body  of  the  vessel  is  laid  out  with  a band  on 
which  two  pairs  of  conventionalized  reclining  monsters  in  strongly 
geometric  style  are  displayed  in  flat  relief.  The  whole  is  a perfect 
piece  of  work.  It  is  14  cm  high,  and  16.7  cm  mde  from  the  tip  of  the 
snout  to  the  handle. 

The  bottle-shaped  vase  (25  cm  high,  10  cm  wide)  is  decorated  on 
both  sides  with  blossoming  peonies  (mu-tan)  and  bamboo-leaves.  On 
the  neck  are  two  Svastika  enclosing  the  ornamental  character  shou 
“longevity.”  The  Svastika  stands  here  for  the  character  wan  “ten 
thousand,”  and  we  obtain  a rebus  reading  chu  (“bamboo”)  fu  kuei^ 
p'ing  (“vase”)  Hang  wan  shou,  i.  e.  “With  best  udshes  for  happiness, 
honorable  position,  peace  and  numberless  (twenty-thousand)  years!” 

The  small  wine-cup  carved  from  white  jade  in  Fig.  3 of  Plate  XLV 
and  coming  down  from  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736-1795)  is  an  imita- 
tion in  jade  of  the  bronze  sacrificial  vessel  i (Giles  No.  5443)  once  used 
in  the  ancestral  cult,  but  in  modem  times  serving  only  as  a loving-cup 
in  the  marital  ceremony  when  bride  and  groom  alternately  drink  wine 
from  it.  The  two  handles  are  formed  into  dragon-heads  holding  in 
their  jaws  the  rim  of  the  bowl  and  terminating  in  fish-tails.  A threefold 

‘Compare  Chinese  Pottery  of  the  Han  Dynasty,  pp.  131-132. 

* Symbolized  by  the  peony  called  fu  kuei  hua  “flower  of  wealth  and  honorable 
position." 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XLVI 


Set  of  White  jade  Ewer  and  Vase,  Ming  Period 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XLVIl. 


Incense-Burner  Carved  from  white  Jade  in  Open-work.  Ming  Period 


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5 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XLVIll 


YUNNAN-MARBLE  PLATE,  MiNG  PERIOD. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.ADE. 


321 


row  of  knobs,  the  ancient  “grain”  pattern,  is  laid  around  the  body  of 
the  vessel  which  is  3.2  cm  high  with  a diameter  of  6.5  cm. 

As  regards  technical  skill  and  artistic  taste,  the  incense-bumer 
shown  on  Plate  XLVII  takes  the  first  place  in  our  collection.  It  is  a 
superb  work  of  the  Ming  period  (1368-1644),  and  as  all  Chinese  connois- 
seurs in  Si-ngan  fu  agree,  a unique  production  and  certainly  the  finest 
of  the  kind  which  ever  left  that  city.  It  was  secured  from  the  piivate 
collection  of  a high  official  in  whose  family  it  had  been  kept  through 
many  generations.  It  is  composed  of  three  pieces  carved  separately, 
the  base,  the  bowl,  and  the  cover,  the  three  being  joined  in  harmonious 
proportions.  The  handles  with  dragon-heads  on  the  sides  and  a large 
peony  blossom  with  leaves  in  high  relief  on  the  top,  and  the  movable 
rings  freely  swinging  in  them  are  carved  \\nth  the  bowl  out  of  the  same 
living  stone.  The  cover  is  laid  down  just  over  the  dragon-heads  and 
forms  one  piece  with  the  flat  dome  by  which  it  is  surmounted.  Base, 
bowl  and  lid,  even  the  bottom,  are  carved  throughout  in  open-work  into 
a continuous  leaf  and  floral  design  of  peonies,  ap])arcntly  the  imitation 
of  a textile  pattern.^  The  color  of  jade  is  light-gray,  with  a brownish 
tinge  on  the  dome  caused  by  the  fumes  from  the  incense  burnt  in  the 
bowl,  which  is  15.4  cm  high,  \\-ith  a diameter  of  25  cm. 

The  large  plate  shown  in  Plate  XLVII  I is  carved  from  Yunnan 
marble,  known  as  stone  of  Ta-li  fu  {Ta-li  shih)  and  is  remarkable  for  its 
size  (41  cm  in  diameter)  as  well  as  for  its  age.  As  far  as  I know,  other 
ancient  objects  of  this  material  have  not  been  found.  The  piece  in 
question  was  excavated  in  the  environment  of  Si-ngan  fu.  Only  the 
flaring  rim  has  preserved  its  original  jade-like  polish,  while  it  has  dis- 
appeared altogether  on  the  flat  bottom  where  the  originally  white  streaks 
have  assumed  underground  a dirty-yellow  color  due  to  masses  of  loess 
falling  and  pressing  on  the  surface.  While  it  is  impossible  to  fix  a 
certain  date  for  this  object,  which  is  void  of  any  ornamentation,  it  may 
be  generally  assumed  that  it  belongs  to  the  Ming  period  or  may  even 
be  older.  The  value  of  this  kind  of  marble  is  attributed  to  its  peculiar 
black  stripes  and  clouds  interrupting  the  white  substance. ^ The 
Chinese  are  fond  of  cutting  this  stone  out  in  slabs,  round  or  squaie, 
to  be  used  for  screens,  or  to  be  inlaid  in  tables  or  chairs,  and  sawing  it 
in  such  a way  that,  with  some  strain  of  imagination  on  the  part  of  the 
intending  purchaser,  the  black  masses  form  veritable  scenery  with 
streams,  hills  and  clouds.  From  this  point  of  view,  our  plate  is  carved 

'Compare  Bushell,  Chinese  Art,  Vol.  II,  p.  94.  The  subject  of  the  derivation 
of  patterns  on  pottery,  metal  and  jade  from  textiles  is  deserving  of  a special  mono- 
graph. 

Compare  E.  Rocher,  La  province  chinoise  du  Yun-nan,  Vol.  II,  p.  259;  F.  de 
Mely,  Les  lapidaires  chinois,  p.  6. 


322  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Antii.,  Vol.  X. 

with  admirable  cleverness.  Tlie  rim  is  girt  with  a wreath  of  black 
parallel  strips;  a black-veined  band  is  thrown  in  a bold  sweep  across, 
suggesting  a flock  of  startled  birds  hurriedly  seeking  shelter  from  the 
dark  rain-clouds  gathering  above.  On  the  lower  side  of  the  rim,  the 
lusus  nalura  has  attained  a still  greater  triumph,  the  black  veins  running 
parallel  wdth  the  rim,  being  suggestive  of  a tiger-skin,  or  when  viewed 
from  a distance,  of  a snow-landscape  filled  with  bare  hill-ranges. 

The  flowervase  shown  on  Plate  XLIX,  Fig.  i (19  cm  high),  is  carved 
from  a Han  jade,  yellow-brown  mottled  with  black  streaks;  it  is  un- 
adorned, the  artistic  effect  resting  in  the  gracefulness  of  its  shape  and  in 
the  natural  play  of  the  various  colors.  It  is  a work  of  the  K'ien-lung 
period  (1736-1795).  Figure  2 is  also  a flowervase  of  the  same  date  and 
likeudse  produced  from  a red-mottled  milk-white  jade  of  the  Han 
period  (19  cm  high).  It  is  flat  (3.5  cm  wdde)  with  rounded  lateral 
sides.  The  floral  design  in  flat  relief  is  identical  on  both  sides.  A band 
of  leaf  ornaments  is  laid  around  the  neck,  and  a fret  of  scrollwork  around 
the  rim.  The  two  handles  are  shaped  into  dragon-heads. 

The  bowl  (9.5  cm  high,  diameter  of  opening  26.5  cm),  two  views  of 
whieh  are  shown  on  Plates  L and  LI,  is  car\'ed  from  a jade-like  serpen- 
tine vdth  oniaments  cut  out  as  in  cameo-work.  It  is  posed  on  fi\-e 
low  feet  in  the  shape  of  cloud-])attems,  the  entire  bowl  with  these  feet 
being  cut  out  of  one  pieee  of  stone.  The  band  of  ornaments  as  seen  in 
the  illustration  runs  around  the  whole  vessel.  It  is  divided  into  two 
equ;d  sections  by  two  jirojecting  knobs  having  the  funeticn  of  handles. 
The  pattern  consists  of  conventional  forms  of  chrysanthemums  and 
serrated  leaves  laid  in  elegant  curves.  On  the  bottom  (Plate  LI),  two 
butterflies  and  a design  of  leaves  are  cut  out  in  relief.  The  tips  of  the 
leaves  on  the  left  are  rolled  up  into  spirals  and  made  into  the  appearance 
of  fungi  of  immoriality  {ling  chih),  so  that  the  rebus  ling  lieh  is  evidently 
brought  out  here,  “may  you  reach  high  age!” 

This  piece  was  exjiosed  to  a fire  which  has  caused  a discoloration  of 
the  original  leaf-green  color  into  a pale  yellow-white  along  the  upper 
portion  both  outside  and  inside.*  The  date  of  this  bowl  is  to  be  referred 
to  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736-1795) ; it  is  a product  of  the  great  renais- 
sance movement  then  going  on  in  the  perfection  of  design  and  technique. 

' Mr.  Bishop  (Vol.  II,  p.  240)  describes  a jadeite  armlet  {cho-tse)  “showing  the 
effects  of  fire  action  or  heat  to  which  it  was  exposed  during  a conflagration  in  1878. 
Previous  to  the  fire  the  coloration  was  a mottling  of  pea-green,  gray,  and  brown. 
The  purplish  hue  of  the  brown  now  seen  on  the  armlet  is  due  to  stainings  of  the  iron 
or  bronze  with  which  it  was  in  contact  during  the  fire.  The  heat  has  crackled  the 
material  throughout,  and  has  completely  cracked  the  ring  at  one  side,  the  parting 
of  the  crack  having  a width  of  half  a millimetre. ' The  piece  has  suffered  more  on 
one  side  than  the  other,  which  still  retains  its  polish.  It  is  interesting  as  a well 
authenticated  burnt  piece  of  iadeite.” 


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Fig.  2 


EXPLANATION  OF  PL.  XLIX. 

Plain  Flowervase  of  YeUow  Han  Jade. 

Flowervase  decorated  with  Floral  Designs  in  Relief, 
carved  from  Han  Jade. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  XLIX. 


I 2 

Flowervases  Carved  from  Han  Jade,  K'ien-lung  Period, 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL  X,  PL 


GREEN  Bowl  with  Floral  Reliefs  in  Cameo  Style,  K*ien-lung  Period. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LI. 


BOTTOM  OF  Bowl  Shown  in  Preceding  Plate. 


r 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  Lll. 


I 3 2 

FRUIT-DISHES  OF  WHITE  jADE,  K'lEN-LUNG  PERIOD. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  Ul. 

Fig.  I.  Interior  of  Fruit- Dish. 
Fig.  2.  Exterior  of  Fruit-Dish. 
Fig.  3.  Pentagonal  Fruit-Dish. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


323 


Three  fruit-dishes  of  white  jade  are  illustrated  on  Plate  LIT 
Figures  i and  2 are  derived  from  a set  of  four  identical  in  material, 
shape  and  design,  carved  in  a very  thin,  transparent  milk-white  jade 
with  clouded  onion-green  patches.  Figure  i shows  the  interior.  Figure 
2 the  exterior  of  these  dishes  (4  cm  high,  diameter  13.3  cm),  decorated 
with  two  zones  of  meanders  encircling  a floral  wreath  in  flat  relief. 
Figure  3 on  Plate  LI  I,  one  of  a set  of  two  (10  cm  in  diameter,  1.3  cm 
high),  represents  another  type  of  dish,  shallow,  the  edge  being  cut  out 
in  five  petals  as  in  certain  metal  mirrors  of  the  T'ang  jjeriod,  with  a 
raised  circular  portion  in  the  centre  which  has  a slight  depression  for 
the  reception  of  small  nuts  or  the  like,  while  other  kinds  of  fruit  are 
grouped  around  in  the  outer  comjmrtmcnt.  Both  sets  are  works  of  the 
K’ien-lung  period  (1736-1795). 

While  all  of  the  ancient  jade  vases  have  their  prototypes  in  a bronze 
vessel,  and  while  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  hardly  any  new  fonns  of 
vessels  were  produced  in  jade,  there  are  nevertheless  two  processes  of 
technique  applied  to  jade  which  we  do  not  encounter  in  ancient  bronze. 
The  one  is  exemplified  by  the  above  jade  censer  entirely  carved  in  open- 
work, the  other  by  the  bowls  with  high  undercut  reliefs,  a style  and 
])rocess  which  seems  to  set  in  from  the  time  of  the  Sung  dynasty.  We 
can  but  presume  that  the  peculiar  character  of  stone,  and  in  particular 
of  jade,  easily  lent  and  adapted  itself  to  these  two  modes  of  work,  and 
that  they  were  first  developed  and  cultivated  in  stone,  not  in  metal. 
Under  the  Sung,  also  bronze  vessels  appear  covered  with  undercut 
designs  in  relief,  and  there  are  fine  examples  of  them  in  our  collection, 
but  I do  not  know  of  any  early  bronzes,  Chou  or  Han,  subjected  to 
this  kind  of  treatment.  I am  therefore  inclined  to  assume  that  this  was 
a later  development  (i)ossibly  going  back  to  the  days  of  the  T'ang  dynas- 
ty), and  that  this  technique  was  tran.sfcrrcd  from  jade  to  bronze.  In 
both  materials,  it  was  extensively  ])ractised  under  the  Ming  and  in  the 
eras  of  K'ang-hi  and  K'ien-lung,  and  from  the  latter  period,  we  possess 
also  a great  number  of  bronze  vessels,  especially  censers  and  braziers, 
the  bodies  or  covers  of  which  are  executed  in  open-work.  In  dealing 
with  these  productions,  it  will  be  necessary  to  refer  to  the  corresponding 
jade  pieces,  and  to  make  a careful  comi^arison  between  the  ornamenta- 
tions of  both. 


XII.  JADE  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 


Marv^ellous  works  of  jade  were  turned  out  during  the  K'ang-hi  and 
K'ien-lung  periods,  many  directly  inspired  by  these  emperors  themselves 
and  engraved  with  poems  written  by  them,  with  their  seals  appended. 

As  a rule,  the  style  of  the  ancients  was  followed.  This  is  expressly 
testified  by  seals  as,  e.  g.,  Ta  Ts'ing  K'ien-lung  fang  ku,  “Reign  of  K'ien- 
lung  of  the  Great  Ts'ing  d\Tiasty,  imitating  antiquity  or  the  antique 
style”  (Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  232).  This  does  not  always  mean  that  the 
work  in  question  is  altogether  a faithful  reproduction  of  an  antique, 
but  only  that  the  style  and  the  spirit  in  the  approved  subject  handed 
dowm  from  times  of  old  have  been  preserved. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  jade  bowlders  were  brought  from  Khotan 
to  Peking,  as  we  gather  e.  g.  from  an  interesting  poem  composed  by  the 
Emperor  K'ien-lung  in  1774  and  engraved  on  the  bottom  of  a magnifi- 
cent fish-bowl  of  neiihrite;  the  poem  opens  with  the  words,  “ The  colossal 
block  was  brought  as  a tributary  offering  from  Khotan  (Ho-lien),  to 
be  fashioned  by  .skilful  hands  into  a wing  (name  of  a type  of  vessel) - 
shaped  bowl”  (Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  232).  From  another  imperial  poem 
of  the  same  date,  we  learn  that  bright  jiure  jade  was  brought  from  the 
Yii-lung  Valley,  the  Chinese  name  of  the  Yurungkash  River  in  Turkistan 
which  ])roduces  jade  {Ibid.,  p.  244).' 

The  Bishop  collection,  now  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  New 
York,  was  ver^-  fortunate  in  securing  a number  of  pieces  originating 
from  the  Imperial  Summer-Palace  destroyed  by  Lord  Elgin  in  i860. 
Most  of  these  were  manufactured  in  the  court-atelier  for  imperial  use 
only  and  rank  among  works  of  the  highest  perfection  which  human  skill 
may  reach.  Though  we  cannot  boast  of  any  such  palace  pieces,  our 
collection  is  fairly  representative  of  that  memorable  jicriod  in  some 
fine  and  choice  specimens  all  coming  from  the  possession  of  families  of 
high  standing  in  Si-ngan  fu  and  San-ytian  of  Shensi  Province.  It  is 
thoroughly  characteristic  of  those  art-treasures  amassed  by  the  high 
official  and  of  the  taste  displayed  by  him  in  the  decoration  of  his  jirivate 
residence.  These  two  sections  in  the  Bishop  collection  and  in  our  own 
felicitously  supplement  each  other;  the  one  is  not  rendered  superfluous 
by  the  other,  and  serious  students  should  apply  themselves  to  the  study 
of  both. 

^ Occasionally,  a nephrite  bowl  came  also  from  India,  as  testified  in  a poem  of  the 
Emperor  of  the  year  1770  engraved  in  a bowl  of  chrysanthemum  shape  {Ibid.,  Vol. 
II,  p.  250). 


\ 


324 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


325 


The  conventional  opinion  on  the  decadence  of  Chinese  art  during  the 
last  centuries  is  not  upheld  even  by  a mere  superficial  examination  of 
these  two  collections.  The  technical  master\'  in  the  carving  of  these 
jade  pieces  is  as  great  as,  perhaps  even  greater  than,  in  any  previous 
period  of  history,  and  they  reveal  a power  of  artistic  composition  and  a 
hannony  of  form  and  taste  unattaincd  by  European  art -industry  of  the 
same  age.  True  it  is,  they  lack  in  originality  and  variability  of  ideas. 
The  K'ien-lung  epoch  is  weak  in  new  inventions,  and  it  is  questionable 
whether  any  new  creation  arose  during  that  period  in  the  mind  of  any 
artist.  The  works  of  the  past  are  copied,  not  slavishly  and  languidly, 
but  with  a zealous  and  fervent  inspiration,  with  an  honest  desire  to 
produce  the  best,  with  a truly  artistic  instinct.  It  was  a gay  and  amia- 
ble art  of  a distinctly  worldly  imprint,  certainly  bare  of  that  deep  re- 
ligious spirit  which  had  instigated  the  great  early  masters  to  their 
transcendental  and  spiritually  impressionistic  motives.  The  emotional 
idealism  and  sentimentalism  had  vanished.  The  exigencies  of  the  life 
here  had  come  more  and  more  to  the  front,  and  the  old-time  rigid  sacred- 
ness was  redeemed  by  a more  human  and  social  touch.  No  longer  were 
the  artists  guided  by  ideas,  but  by  considerations  of  taste,  elegant  forms, 
pleasing  proportions  and  delicate  treatment  of  ornamental  details, 
though  the  subjects  were  still  drawm  from  the  ancient  sources,  but  with 
a i^redilection  for  the  genre. 

While  in  its  content  Chinese  art  of  the  eighteenth  century  doubtless 
becomes  somewhat  wearisome  and  monotonous,  it  still  maintains,  on 
the  other  hand,  such  high  standards  and  qualities  and  is  so  rich  in  great 
achievements  as  to  render  it  sufficiently  attractive  to  the  foreign  stu- 
dent. And  it  is  perhaps  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  K'ien-lung 
era  which  have  won  for  it  so  many  foreign  admirers.  The  collector  of 
porcelains  is  aware  of  what  is  due  to  the  accomplishments  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  in  this  line;  lacquer  and  ivor\’’  carvdng  flourished  at  the 
same  ])criod  and  above  all  painting,  the  excellent  qualities  of  which  are 
justly  insisted  on  by  Hirth.and  made  by  him  the  starting-point  for  a 
study  of  Chinese  painting  in  general.  In  no  other  age  were  literature 
and  criticism  cultivated  to  a higher  degree,  and  under  the  patronage 
of  these  two  big-hearted  liberal  emperors,  K'ang-hi  and  K'ien-lung, 
the  Chinese  have  produced  masterpieces  in  printing,  book -making  and 
wood -engraving  which  may  maintain  an  honorable  place  beside  the 
best  jiroductions  of  the  world  at  large.  Where  there  are  successful 
efforts  in  all  fields  of  human  activity,  we  arc  scarcely  justified  in  speak- 
ing of  a general  decadence. 

It  would  be  preposterous  to  infer  that  the  student  of  Chinese  archae- 
ology could  set  his  mind  at  rest  over  the  development  of  the  eighteenth 


326  Field  Museum  oe  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

century;  not  only,  he  cannot  get  along  without  it,  but  he  should  even 
make  his  start  with  a thorough  knowledge  of  this  period  which  is  as 
necessary  to  him  as  his  daily  bread.  The  great  revival  of  antiquity  led 
to  a unique  renaissance  movement  in  literature  and  art ; diligent  searches 
for  ancient  books,  manuscripts,  and  antiquities  resulted  in  a widening 
of  the  horizon,  in  a deejicning  of  thoughts  and  in  a straining  of  intel- 
lectual forces  unparalleled  in  China’s  long  history.  The  archaeologist 
has  every  reason  to  look  up  to  the  deep  endeavors  of  that  epoch  with 
a feeling  of  particular  gratitude,  as  without  them  we  should  probably 
be  forsaken  or  grope  in  the  dark  in  more  than  one  case.  To  the  vigilant 
wisdom  of  that  generation  we  owe  the  preservation  and  tradition  of 
numerous  antiquities;  many  others,  as  bronzes,  and  the  tiles  and  bricks 
of  the  Han  period,  were  then  brought  to  light  and  studied,  and  many 
ancient  types  which  have  long  perished  have  come  down  to  us  solely 
in  the  reproductive  and  retrospective  art  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
And  that  is  exactly  the  point  where  the  share  of  the  archaeologist  in  the 
harvest  comes  in.  He  finds  an  unusually  fecund  field  in  the  K'ien-lung 
epoch  for  the  exercise  of  his  wits  in  his  particular  domain.  The  proto- 
t}'pes  are  lost,  but  the  reproductions  are  there  and  must  be  utilized. 
On  the  following  pages,  jade  sonorous  stones  and  bells,  Jii-i  and  other 
objects  are  discussed  from  an  archaeological  iioint  of  \’iew,  while  we  are 
forced  to  refer  to  specimens  of  the  K'ien-lung  period,  no  older  ones  being 
in  existence.  The  conser\'ative  spirit  of  the  Chinese  thus  becomes  a 
substantial  benefactor,  and  a good  K'ien-lung  reproduction  is  certainly 
better  than  a blank  or  a weak  or  poorly  authenticated  more  ancient 
“original.”  Where,  and  what  is  the  original,  after  all?  Of  these 
Chinese  copies  and  copies  of  copies,  the  word  of  Holmes  (The  Autocrat 
of  the  Breakfast-Table)  holds  good:  “A  thought  is  often  original, 

though  you  have  uttered  it  a hundred  times,”  and  Emerson’s  saying; 
“When  Shakespeare  is  charged  with  debts  to  his  authors,  Landor 
replies,  ‘Yet  he  was  more  original  than  his  originals.  He  breathed 
upon  dead  bodies  and  brought  them  into  life.’  ” Thus,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  Carl  Gussow  of  Munich  could  not  believe  Huang  Hao’s  Red  Carp 
of  i8ii  to  be  a copy,  though  expressly  stated  so  by  the  artist  on  the 
painting;  the  entire  conception,  he  thought,  was  so  free  and  independent 
that  it  was  bound  to  be  an  original  (Hirtii,  Scraps  from  a Collector’s 
Note  Book,  p.  44).  As  everything  Chinese  is  pervaded  by  an  atmos- 
phere different  from  our  own,  so  also  a Chinese  copyist  is  framed  of  a 
different  mould;  his  work  is  creative  rcinvention,  not  purely  receptive, 
but  partaking  of  the  spirit  permeating  the,  soul  of  the  master.  There- 
fore, we  may  have  confidence  in  stud^fing  archa;ology  on  the  ground  of 
the  traditionary  relics  of  the  K'ien-lung  epoch. 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.-VDE. 


327 


“The  use  of  sonorous  stone  to  make  musical  instruments,”  as 
Mr.  J.  A.  VAN  Aalst  (Chinese  Music,  p.  48)  justly  remarks,  “may  be 
said  to  be  peculiar  to  China.*  At  all  events,  the  Chinese  were  the  first 
to  give  stone  a place  in  music;  their  classics  frequently  mention  the  stone 
chime  as  being  knowm  by  the  ancient  emperors  and  held  in  great  es- 
teem.” They  are  mentioned  on  three  occasions  in  the  “Tribute  of  Yii  ” 
(in  the  Shu  king)  where  also  stones  for  polishing  the  musical  stones 
occur. 

There  are  two  principal  classes  of  sonorous  stones,  — the  single 
stone  and  the  compound  stones.  The  former  (t'e  k'ing)  is  a stone  cut 
.somewhat  in  the  shape  of  a carpenter’s  square,  but  in  the  foim  of  an 
obtuse  angle  udth  two  limbs,  the  longer  one  called  the  “drum,”  the 
shorter,  the  “limb.”  It  is  suspended  in  a wooden  frame  by  means  of 
a silk  cord  passing  through  a hole  bored  at  the  apex.  It  is  still  employed 
during  the  ceremonies  performed  in  the  Confucian  temples  and  struck 
with  a hammer  against  the  longer  limb  to  gi\’c  a single  note  at  the  end 
of  each  verse.  In  the  compound  stones  {pien  king),  sixteen  of  the  same 
type  as  the  single  stone,  but  on  a smaller  scale,  are  suspended  in  two 
equal  rows  on  a wooden  frame,  all  being  of  the  same  dimensions  in 
length  and  breadth,  differing  only  in  thickness;  the  thicker  the  stone, 
the  deeper  the  sound.  Also  this  instrument  serves  in  the  Confucian 
temples,  in  connection  with  bell-chimes,  the  bell  being  struck  at  the 
beginning  of  each  long  note  in  the  tune,  and  the  stone  at  the  end.** 

All  the  jade  gongs  and  bells  in  our  collection,  including  one  of 
rock-crystal,  come  down  from  the  K'ien-lung  epoch,  the  latter  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  but  they  are  of  such  eminent  workmanship 

‘ There  are  perhaps  some  exceptions  in  America  (Fischek,  p.  28).  Sonoious 
stones  from  Peru  are  referred  to  by  C.  Engel,  A Descr.  Catalogue  of  the  Alusical 
Instruments  in  the  South  Kens.  Mus.,  p.  81.  Prof.  M.  H.  Saville  (The  Antiquities 
of  Manabi,  Ecuador,  p.  67,  New  York,  1907)  relates  after  Suarez  that  “in  Picoaza 
there  was  preserved,  until  a little  while  ago,  a bell  of  the  aborigines  of  that  locality; 
it  was  a stone  slab  of  black  slate,  a metre  (little  more  or  less)  in  height,  and  some 
centimetres  wide;  when  this  stone  was  suspended  from  one  of  its  ends,  the  striking 
of  it  with  another  stone  or  with  the  hand  produced  a metallic  and  pleasant  sound, 
which  vibrated  like  that  of  a bell.”  Saville  failed  to  find  any  traces  of  this  stone, 
and  thinks  that  it  is  probably  being  used  as  a metate  in  one  of  the  houses  in  the 
village.  A beautiful  sonorous  stone  excavated  by  Dr.  George  A.  Dorsey  in  Ecuador 
is  in  the  collections  of  the  Field  Museum  (see  Publ.  56,  Anihr.  Ser.,  Vol.  II,  No.  5, 
p.  259).  There  is,  further,  in  this  Museum  (Cat.  No.  70940)  a trap  signal  from  the 
Porno  Indians,  California,  consisting  of  two  obsidian  blocks  for  hanging  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  trapped  deer  strike  them  and  announce  their  capture  to  the  hunter. 
In  the  Memoires  concernant  les  Chinois,  Vol.  VI,  p.  221,  attention  is  called  to  black 
sonorous  stones  mentioned  by  Pliny. 

2 Compare  van  Aalst,  1.  c.,  pp.  48-49;  Dennys,  Notes  on  Chinese  Instruments  of 
Music,  p.  105  {Journal  China  Branch  R.  As.  Society,  Vol.  VIII,  1874);  A.  C.  Moule, 
Chinese  Musical  Instruments,  pp.  30-33  {Ibid.,  Vol.  XXXIX,  1908).  Amiot’s 
Essai  sur  les  pierres  sonores  still  remains  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  this 
subject. 


328  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

that  they  must  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  ancient  specimens.  It 
was  then  a renaissance  period  of  art  on  all  lines,  greater  than  which  no 
other  previous  age  had  seen,  fostered  by  imperial  patronage,  enlisting 
the  highest  talent  of  the  time.  I doubt  if  at  present  any  of  these  bells 
are  in  existence  older  than  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  true  the 
Bishop  collection  (Vol.  II,  p.  107)  possesses  a large  flat  gong  of  nephrite 
with  a date-mark  Yuan-ting,  i.  e.  made  in  the  period  B.  c.  116-111  of 
the  Han  Emperor  \Vu;  but  it  is  just  this  dated  inscription  which  is  apt 
to  cause  suspicion,  as  such  inscriptions  do  not  otherwise  exist  in  ancient 
jade  pieces  and  are  not  on  record  in  any  Chinese  collection.  I do  not 
mean  to  throw  any  reflection  on  the  great  value  and  unusual  beauty 
of  this  object,  but  it  is  a question  open  to  discussion  whether  it  really 
belongs  to  the  period  referred  to. 

During  the  T’ang  dynasty  the  regulation  obtained  that  in  the 
worship  of  the  Deities  of  Heaven  and  Earth  stone  was  employed  for 
the  k'ing,  while  in  the  ancestral  temple  and  in  the  palace  k'ing  of  jade 
were  utilized. 

In  1764,  the  governor  of  Yarkand  forwarded  to  the  emperor  K'ien- 
lung  39  large  slabs  weighing  altogether  3975  catties,  to  make  the  pecu- 
liar musical  stones  called  k'ing,  besides  a large  supply  of  smaller  slabs; 
and,  the  year  after,  sent  a further  large  quantity  for  imperial  use.  The 
slabs  were  all  quarried  in  the  Mirtai  Mountains,  and  sawTi  there  by 
natives  of  Sungaria  (Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  25). 

The  bell  represented  on  Plate  LIII  though  made  as  late  as  the  K'icn- 
lung  period  (1736-1795)  is  a specimen  of  most  brilliant  workmanship. 
It  was  acquired  from  the  private  collection  of  a Chinese  gentleman  in 
the  town  of  San-yiian  north  of  Si-ngan  fu.  First  of  all,  it  is  valuable 
for  its  material,  being  carved  from  a jade  of  the  Han  dynasty  {II an  yil). 
A brown-red  tinge  passing  into  light-yellow  shades  is  streum  over  a 
background  of  a glossy  white  which  the  Chinese  designate  as  mutton- 
fat.  Aside  from  the  two  pendants,'  the  entire  bell  is  carved  from  one 
solid  bowlder  of  jade,  \rith  walls  i an  thick.  It  is  hollowed  out  by 
means  of  the  tubular  drill,*  as  can  be  seen  in  the  interior  where,  side  by 
side,  three  cylindrical  pieces  unequal  in  length,  have  been  taken  out. 
It  is  20  cm  high,  14.6  cm  \ride  at  the  base,  and  3.8  cm  thick,  over  the 
middle  of  the  base. 

In  shape  and  design,  this  bell  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  one  of  the 
ancient  bronze  bells  of  the  Chou  period.  The  decoration  on  both  faces 
is  identical.  The  lower  and  upper  edges  are  bordered  by  meander 
patterns.  A band  u-ith  a conventionalized  monster’s  head  (t'ao-t'ieh) 

' They  have  been  omitted  in  our  Plate  to  ensure  a larger  reproduction  of  the  bell. 

^Compare  Bush  ell,  Chinese  Art,  V'ol.  I,  p.  144. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


anthropology.  VOL.  X,  PL.  Llll 


BELL  Carved  from  Han  Jade.  K'ien-lung  Period 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LIV. 


Resonant  Stone,  Carved  from  jade,  in  Shape  of  dragon,  K'ien-lung  period. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  LV 


Back  of  Resonant  Stone  Shown  in  Preceding  Plate. 


Mil  I ■ Jtrniti  lli«Hhnliiiii  iilliji'FTattiittii^MnnilnHl1tan^  ILIIIII  tailrui^itl  Iiili'nrilllllilltlllllllll-Till 


Ml  III  ■ III 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.  ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X,  PL.  LVI. 


Resonant  Stone,  Carved  from  jade,  K'ien-lung  Period. 


Jade. 


329 


Feb.,  1912. 


in  flat  relief  is  laid  around  the  body,  from  which  a girdle  of  leaf-oma- 
ments  is  drooping.  The  handle  is  surrounded  by  two  combatant 
dragons  cut  out  in  open-work. 

The  resonant  stones  are  much  favored  as  birthday  presents  or 
congratulatory  gifts  in  general,  as  their  designation  k'ing  (Giles 
No.  2208)  is  punned  upon  with  another  word  k'ing  of  the  same  sound 
(No.  2211)  meaning  “good  luck,  happiness,  blessings,  to  congratulate.” 
The  ])hrase  ki  k'ing  “to  strike  the  musical  stone”  is  understood  as 
“may  blessings  attend  you”  or  “good  luck  and  best  wishes.”  This 
stone,  therefore,  forms  part  and  parcel  of  the  bride’s  dowry  in  Peking 
(Grube,  Zur  Pekinger  Volkskunde,  p.  32). 

In  the  jade  chimes  of  Plate  LIV  the  upper  smaller  jade  piece  from 
which  the  resonant  stone  is  suspended  is  composed  entirely  of  designs 
intended  as  rebus.  The  peach  as  s\Tnbol  of  longevity  stands  for  shou 
“long  life;”  the  svastika  on  it  means  wan  “ten  thousand,”  the  bat  /« 
stands  for  /m  “luck,”  the  fungus  of  immortality  for  ling  “high  age,” 
and  the  orchid  Ian  for  the  verb  Ian  “to  come  to  an  end.”  Thus,  this 
ornament  is  read  as  the  sentence:  wan  shou  fu  Ian  ling,  “Numberless 
years  and  luck  may  come  to  an  end  only  at  old  age!”  (Compare  Grube, 
1.  c.,  p.  138,  No.  8). 

The  resonant  stone  (31  cm  X i3-5  cm),  of  white  and  greenish  jade, 
is  carved  in  the  shape  of  a scaly  dragon  surrounded  by  cloud-ornaments, 
i.  e.  the  dragon  soaring  in  the  clouds  as  the  beneficial  sender  of  rain. 
Plate  LIV  shows  the  front-view,  Plate  L\"  the  back  where  only  the 
scaly  body  is  visible,  while  the  head  is  floating  in  the  clouds  and  hidden 
under  the  cloud  ornaments,  a rather  artistic  conception. 

In  the  specimen  on  Plate  LVI  (38  cm  high),  the  original  shape  of 
the  resonant  stone  is  rather  faithfully  iireserved;  even  the  perforation 
in  the  apex  has  been  retained.  The  additional  ornaments  are  intended 
to  be  read  as  a rebus.  The  figure  below  the  ring  carved  from  a gray 
and  brown  jade  is  a Buddhistic  emblem,  one  of  the  Eight  Precious  Ob- 
jects, in  Sanskrit  grivatsa,  in  Chinese  p'an  ch'ang,  and  is  used  in  the 
rebus  for  ch'ang  “long”  which  is  connected  with  the  character  shou 
“longevity”  enclosed  in  a circle  on  the  surface  of  the  resonant  stone; 
the  bat  fu  represents  again  fu  “luck”  and  the  two  fishes  yii  mean  yii 
“abundance.”  The  rebus  therefore  reads:  ch'ang  shou  fu,  k'ing  yu 
yii  “Long  life  and  luck,  blessings  and  abundance!”  Despite  this 
tendency,  the  single  parts  are  harmoniously  arranged  and  well  propor- 
tioned. Both  faces,  also  in  the  double-fish  ornament,  are  carved  alike. 

The  gong  of  sea-green  jade  on  Plate  L\TI  is  composed  of  three  parts 
connected  by  double  chains  of  white  jade,  the  links  being  cut  out  of 
one  solid  piece  of  stone.  The  lower  plaque  (19  cm  X 8 cm)  is  the  bell 


33°  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

]iro]icr  worked  in  relief  and  in  open-work,  both  faees  being  decorated 
alike.  The  two  combatant  dragons  of  geometric  mould  have  theii 
raised  front-jiaws  intertwined.  The  figure  of  a bat  resting  on  cloud- 
patterns  is  cut  out  in  open-work  below  to  furnish  the  character  /«  to 
be  read  together  with  the  ornamental  form  of  shou  above,  as  “good 
luck  and  long  life.”  In  the  right  and  left  upper  comers  two  coiled 
hydras  are  joined  in  a jour  carv'ing.  The  central  plaque  is  framed 
by  two  conventionalized  figures  of  elephants  on  the  upper  edge  and  two 
rampant  hydras  on  the  sides,  interlacing  their  tails  along  the  lower 
edge.  The  picture  of  a pine-tree  wdth  a stag  and  the  fungus  of  immor- 
tality is  engraved  on  the  front  face,  and  that  of  a pine-tree  with  a garden- 
pavilion  (t'ing)  and  sea-waves  below  it  and  a crane  on  the  wing  on  the 
opposite  face. 

The  upper  brooches  from  which  these  gongs  arc  suspended  arc  of 
the  same  type  as  the  girdle-ornaments,  and  the  piece  in  the  present 
siiccimen  particular!}^  recalls  to  mind  the  head-piece  in  the  ancient 
girdle-pendants.  . 

The  gong  on  Plate  L\TII  consisting  of  two  plaques  is  carved  from 
rock-crystal ; the  two  carvings  are  connected  by  silver  chains  with  hooks 
formed  into  figures  of  bats  and  are  suspended  by  means  of  a silver  hook 
from  a blackwood  frame.  The  shape  and  decorations  of  this  gong  are 
identical  with  the  preceding  one  of  jade;  also  here  the  same  designs  arc 
cut  out  in  relief  on  both  faces,  a task  which  requires  more  care  and 
trouble  in  the  translucent  crystal  than  in  jade.  The  ornamental  lines 
on  the  one  face  must  exactly  coincide  with  those  on  the  opposite  face, 
as  othcrudse  the  latter  would  be  apt  to  shine  through,  and  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  the  design.  The  skill  and  accuracy  of  the  Chinese 
worker  in  crystal  is  most  admirable  in  this  respect. 

This  one  as  well  as  the  previous  jade  gongs  are  all  works  of  the 
K'ien-lung  period  and  fine  specimens  characteristic  of  the  high  accom- 
plishments of  the  glyptic  art  of  that  j^eriod. 

On  Plate  LIX,  a jade  resonant  stone  and  a perforated  disk  {kung 
pi)  of  the  same  gray  jade  are  represented,  suspended  from  wooden 
stands  (70.5  cm  high)  with  a base  shaped  into  a calabash  (hu-lu),  the 
s}Tnbol  of  fertility  and  numerous  progeny  (because  of  its  many  seeds). 
This  is  the  way  in  which  these  objects  are  mounted  and  fixed  up,  when 
given  as  presents  among  officials,  and  in  which  they  are  set  up  as  decora- 
tive objects  in  the  mansion,  adorned  wdth  vari-colored  silken  tassels. 
The  sonorous  jade  (17.5  cm  X 5-7  cm)  has  preserved  its  wedge-shape  of 
old.  Four  dragons  in  full  figure  are  carv^ed  along  the  upper  and  lateral 
.sides,  and  the  figure  of  a fish  below,  yii  “the  fish”  standing  for  yii 
“abundance,”  the  whole  ornament  reading  ki  k'ing  yu  yii,  “Luck, 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  LVIl. 


Resonant  Stone,  Carved  from  Jade,  K'ien-lung  Period. 


» I 

V . 

• • 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  LVIll. 


Resonant  stone,  Carved  from  Rock-Crystal,  K'ien-lung  Period. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LIX. 


I 2 

Set  of  jade  Resonant  Stone  and  Diskoid  Badge  of  Rank,  K'ien-lung  Period 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LX. 


White  Jade  Carving  of  Mountain  scenery,  K'ang-hi  Period. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.  VOL.  X,  PL.  LXI. 


Back  of  jade  Carving  Shown  in  preceding  Plate. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY, 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LXII. 


White  jade  Screen,  K'ien-lung  Period. 


Back  of  jade  Screen  Shown  in  Preceding  Plate 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


Jaue. 


331 


blessing  and  abundance!”  The  disk  (10.5  cm  in  diameter)  is  orna- 
mented in  conformity  with  the  ancient  approved  style,  the  grain 
pattern  (ku)  on  one  side,  and  interlaced  bands  on  the  other.  Also  this 
set  is  credited  to  the  K'ien-lung  period. 

Presents  of  jade  objects  were  always  fashionable  in  China  and 
truly  im])erial  gifts.  Especially  the  arrival  of  a new  offspring  in  the 
imperial  family  gave  the  occasion  for  bestowing  upon  him  fine  jade 
carvings  implying  wishes  for  long  life.  In  the  “Annals  of  the  Kin 
D\-nasty”  (Kin  shih),  it  is  on  record  that  in  the  26th  year  of  the  period 
Ta-ting  (1186  a.  d.)  a great-grandson  was  born  to  the  emperor;  in  cele- 
bration of  this  event,  a banquet  was  given  in  the  K'ing-ho  Palace, 
on  which  occasion  the  emperor  presented  the  infant  with  a set  of  moun- 
tains carved  in  jade.  Such  sculptured  jade  landscapes  arc  known  under 
the  name  “ longevity  mountains ” {shou  shan). 

An  artificial  hill  of  jade  was  erected  in  the  palace  of  the  Mongol 
emperors  in  Peking  (Bretsciineider  in  Chinese  Recorder,  Vol.  VI, 
P-  319)- 

A good  example  of  such  mountain-scenery  is  illustrated  on  Plates 
LX  and  LX  I,  the  former  showing  the  front-view,  the  latter  the  back  of 
the  carving.  Rocks  are  piled  up  in  graceful  irregularity  such  as  we 
arc  wont  to  see  strewm  around  in  Chinese  gardens.  Five  clusters  of 
fungi  of  immortality  (lin^  chih)  are  growing  out  of  the  clefts  of  the  rock, 
and  two  cranes,  emblems  of  long  life,  add  to  the  symbolic  significance.' 
The  bird  standing  below  is  turning  its  head  back  and  looking  up  to  its 
companion  clinging  with  outspread  wings  to  the  edge  of  the  rock.  In 
Plate  LX  I the  wdngs  of  this  crane  may  be  viewed;  the  rocks  are  covered 
with  bamboo  stems  and  leaves.  This  carving  (19  cm  X 15  cm;  3.5  cm 
thick  at  the  base)  is  cut  out  of  one  solid  piece  of  grayish  jade  and  is  a 
perfect  masterpiece  in  every  detail.  Its  date  is  in  the  K'ang-hi  period 
(1662-1722).^ 

The  screen  figured  on  Plates  LX  1 1 and  LX  I II  in  two  views  is  carved 
from  a white  jade  slab  with  light-green  speckles  and  a few  reddish 
veins,  0.6  cm  thick,  30  cm  long  and  21.2  cm  wide.  It  is  enclosed  by 

* There  is  doubtless  also  a rebus  intended  in  this  subject  to  be  read  chu  ling 
hao  shan,  i.  e.  "We  pray  for  a life  as  long  as  that  of  the  crane  and  the  mountains." 

2 Dr.  Bcshell  describes  a similar  type  in  the  Bishop  collection  as  follows  (Bishop, 
Vol.  II,  p.  216):  "A  little  irregular  piece  carved  in  bold  relief  in  the  form  of  a moun- 
tain with  trees  and  water  in  the  usual  style  of  a Chinese  landscape,  the  pine  occupying 
a conspicuous  place.  A stairway  is  cut  in  the  hillside  leading  up  to  a pavilion  with 
four  pillars  which  is  built  upon  a platform  of  rock  above.  In  the  foreground  stand 
two  figures  in  Taoist  costume:  an  old  man  with  a peach  in  his  hand,  representing 
Shou  Lao,  the  god  of  longevity,  accompanied  by  a youthful  attendant  carrying  a 
branch  upon  his  shoulder.  At  the  back  appears  a similar  scene  with  longevity 
•emblems,  including  a pair  of  storks  and  a gigantic  sacred  fungus  {ling-chih)  growing 
from  the  rocks  below.” 


332  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

a blackvvood  frame,  the  ornaments  of  which  are  inlaid  with  silver  wire, 
and  placed  in  a stand  of  carved  blackwood,  with  a panel  in  open-work. 
On  the  one  face  of  the  slab  (Plate  LXII)  two  spotted  deer,  a stag  re- 
clining, and  a doe  walking  are  engraved  with  two  fir-trees  as  background. 
Ripe  cones  arc  hanging  from  the  branches.  The  fungus  of  immortality 
{ling  chill)  emerges  also  here  from  the  ground  and  reminds  us  of  the 
s\Tnbolical  significance  of  the  picture  which  implies  a wish  for  old  age 
and  good  income  {lu  “deer”  by  means  of  punning  being  the  equivalent 
of  lu  “income”).  The  other  face  of  the  screen  (Plate  LXII  I)  is  deco- 
rated with  trunks  of  plum-trees,  the  branches  being  laden  with  blossoms. 
\Vc  observe  that  in  both  cases  the  artist  has  intentionally  chosen  to  draw 
one  tree,  in  horizontal  position,  in  order  to  better  fill  the  space. 

The  objects  grouped  on  Plate  LX IV  are  all  works  of  the  K'ien-lung 
period  (1736-1795). 

Figures  i and  2 are  ornaments  fastened  to  the  central  part  of  a woman’s 
girdle,  both  very  finely  carved  from  gray  jade  in  open-work.  The  design 
in  Fig.  I (10  cm  X 8 cm)  is  a goose  with  wings  outspread  covered  and 
surrounded  by  lotus-flowers  and  leaves.  The  goose  is  a s\Tnbol  of 
conjugal  fidelity,  and  the  lotus  {lien),  by  way  of  punning  with  lien 
(“to  join,  to  connect”),  is  suggestive  of  the  notion  of  permanent  ties. 
The  object  is  therefore  a love-token.  The  rectangular  jilaque  in  Fig.  2 
(6.8  cm  X 4-7  cni)>  cut  out  in  two  layers,  displays  on  a diapered  back- 
ground, a pine-tree  rising  from  the  ground  in  the  centre,  bamboo-leaves 
on  the  left  and  jilum-blossoms  to  the  right;  below,  a stag  and  a doe 
facing  each  other  in  the  shade  of  the  pine-tree.  The  stag  lu  reads  in 
the  rebus  lu  “official  salary,  good  income,”  the  entire  rebus  being  “we 
always  pray  for  old  age  (s\Tnbolized  by  the  pine-tree)  with  sufficient 
income!  ” 

Figure  3 of  Plate  LX  IV  represents  the  cover  to  a round  box  for  hold- 
ing ink  (7  cm  in  diameter),  with  a relief  design  of  “the  mother  hydra 
watching  two  young  ones”  * embedded  in  ornamental  clouds. 

Figure  5 on  Plate  LX  IV  illustrates  a paper-weight  {shu  chen)  of  white 
and  red  agate  on  which  eight  lizard-dragons  mutually  interlaced  are 
carved  out  (7.3  cm  X 6.5  cm,  4 cm  high).  The  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u  contains 
a great  many  varieties  of  this  type  adorning  the  scholar’s  desk,  carved 
into  figures  of  animals. 

Figure  4 on  the  same  Plate  is  a jiurcly  decorative  piece  for  the  wall, 
carved  in  o]Dcn-work  from  a gray-green  jade  with  a layer  of  brown, 
representing  a landscape  of  rocks  with  iiine-tree,  maple-tree,  and  fungus 
(13.2  cm  X 8-7  cm)- 

A pair  of  jade  flutes  of  the  K'ien-lung  period  called  “male”  and 


‘ Compare  above  p.276. 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LXV. 


I 4 2 

Jade  works  of  the  K'ien-lung  Period. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  LXV. 

Fig.  I.  Pair  of  White  Jade  Flutes. 
Figs.  2-3.  Girdle  Buckles. 

Fig.  4.  Ink-Slab  with  Design  of  Well. 
Fig.  5.  Relief  of  Flower-Vase. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


333 


“female”  flutes  is  illustrated  on  Plate  LXV,  Fig.  i.  They  are  finely 
carved  from  a pure  milk-white  jade  (49  cm  long,  diameter  2.5  cm) 
unth  separate  mouthpieces  of  green  jade.  They  arc  fonned  into  the 
appearance  of  bamboo-stems,  the  joints  being  indicated  by  two  parallel 
incised  circles,  /.  e.,  they  are  direct  imitations  of  bamboo  flutes.  Besides 
the  nine  holes  visible  in  the  illustration  each  piece  has,  further,  two  holes 
side  by  side  on  the  lower  face  in  the  second  joint  from  below. 

Jade  flutes  are  frequently  alluded  to  in  Chinese  literature.  The 
Si  king  tsa  ki  relates  that  at  Hicn-yang  there  was  a jade  flute  with  twen- 
ty-six holes.  When  the  Em])eror  Kao-tsu  first  went  to  that  place, 
he  spied  it  in  the  treasury  and  played  on  it,  whereupon  mountains  and 
groves  with  horses  and  chariots  ap]:>carcd  in  a mist,  vanishing  altogether 
when  he  ceased  playing  (Bushell  in  Bishop,  Vol.  1,  p.  49).  The 
“Records  of  Liang-chou”  say:  “In  the  2nd  year  of  the  period  Hien 

ning  (276  A.  D.)  brigands  rifled  the  tomb  of  Chang  Kiiin  and  obtained  a 
vessel  of  the  t\’pe  tsun  carved  from  white  jade,  a musical  ])i]je  of  jade 
(yw  siao)  and  a jade  flute  {yii  ti),  each  of  these  three  being  a particular 
object.” 

The  Sung  Catalogue  of  Jades  figures  a number  of  jade  flutes  and 
other  musical  instruments. 

Figures  2 and  3 of  Plate  LXV  represent  two  girdle-omaments  of  the 
K'ien-lung  period  (1736-1795),  both  di.splaying  the  same  motive  “the 
mother  dragon  watching  her  young  one  ’ ’ in  different  modes  of  technique, 
the  one  being  a relief  carvdng,  the  other  being  worked  d jour.  In  Fig.  2 
(14.5  cm  long),  the  old  dragon  is  cut  out  in  full  figure,  and  the  cub  is 
crawling  up  its  body;  the  jade  is  gray  with  a layer  of  yellow  on  the  ujipcr 
face.  The  piece  in  Fig.  3 (14  cm  long),  of  white  jade,  is  a buckle  of  the 
same  curved  shape  as  those  in  Plate  XXXI\',  with  a stud  on  the  back 
which  is  decorated  wdth  a blossom  diagram.  The  young  dragon  leaning 
on  its  beard  is  standing  in  full  figure  undercut  on  the  surface  of  the 
buckle,  a fungus  of  immortality  at  its  side. 

Figure  4 of  the  same  Plate  represents  an  inkslab  carved  from  gray 
jade  (12.5  cm  X 9 cm,  2.3  cm  high).  We  might  call  it  an  ink-well 
in  a certain  sense  because  the  outline  of  a well-frame  is  brought  out  in 
the  raised  rectangle  framing  the  surface,  resembling  the  ancient  foim 
of  the  wTitten  character  denoting  a well.  The  round  cavity,  the  well 
itself,  serves  as  the  receptacle  for  the  liquid  ink;  the  inkcake  is  rubbed 
on  the  flat  surface  of  the  stone. 

Figure  5 of  Plate  LXV  is  not  a real  flower  vase,  as  might  appear  from 
the  illustration,  but  only  the  relief  picture  of  one  cut  out  of  a solid  flat 
slab  of  gi'ay  jade  (16  cm  X 6.6  cm,  1.5  cm  thick).  Pieces  like  this  one 
are  mounted  on  wooden  jianels  and  arranged  on  them  together  with 


334  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

other  ornaments  cut  out  of  hard  stone.  A branch  with  plum -blossoms 
is  engraved  on  the  surface. 

The  II an  Wn  ku  shih  ‘ relates  how  the  Emperor  Wu  built  a temple 
and  in  the  front -hall  erected  trees  of  jade,  with  branches  made  of  red 
coral,  leaves  of  green  jade,  flowers  and  seeds  blue  and  red  made  of  pre- 
cious stones  hollowed  out  in  the  middle  like  little  bells,  tinkling  as  they 
hung  (Bushell  in  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  48).  A craftsman  of  the  princi- 
jiality  of  Sung  is  credited  with  ha\'ing  cut  jade  or  ivory  into  leaves  of 
the  ]3aper-mulberry  tree  with  such  perfect  resemblance  that  they  might 
have  been  taken  for  natural  products;  but  as  each  leaf  required  three 
3'ears  of  labor,  his  compatriot,  the  philosopher  Lieh-tse,  ridiculed  his 
vain  ability  (Petillon,  Allusions  litteraires,  p.  185).*  Under  the 
present  dynasty  a jiair  of  jade  trees  often  forms  part  of  the  trousseau 
of  a wealthy  bride;  the  Chinese  keep  them  covered  with  glass  shades. 

In  the  Ku  yii  Vii  p'u  no  jade  trees  are  figured  or  mentioned.  There 
is  an  interesting  account  in  the  “Annals  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty”  (T'ang 
s/iu)  in  the  notice  regarding  Tokharestan  (T'u-ho-lo)  to  the  effect  that 
in  662  A.  D.  an  “agate  lamp-tree”  (ma-nao  taig  shu),  three  feet  high, 
was  sent  from  there  to  the  Chinese  Court  (Chavannes,  Documents 
sur  les  Turcs  occidentaux,  p.  157,  St.  Pet.,  1903).  The  word  Icng 
written  with  the  classifier  for  “metal,”  I take  here,  as  is  the  case  quite 
frequently,  as  a variant  of  leng  “lamp,”  u.sually  written  with  the  classi- 
fier for  “fire.”  I understand  the  object  in  the  sense  that  a regular  tree 
was  carved  from  agate,  and  that  the  ends  of  its  branches  were  so  made 
as  to  hold  an  oil-lamp  or  a candle. 

A ])air  of  such  trees  coming  down  from  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736- 
1795)  is  in  our  collection  (Plates  LXVI  and  LXVH).  They  arc  planted 
in  pots  worked  in  cloisonne  enamel,  the  jjrincipal  pattern  consisting  of 
five  bats  {wu  /«  = five  blessings®),  the  larger  central  one  being  enclosed 
in  a central  medallion  and  connected  with  the  figure  of  a resonant 
jade  stone  (^'/«g  = \\dth  congratulations  or  blessings).  The  two  outer 
and  up])er  bats  carry  calabashes  {hu-lu)  suspended  from  bands,  s\Tnbols 
of  fertility  and  numerous  progeny  because  of  the  numerous  seeds  which 
they  contain.  Hence  an  approjiriate  design  for  a bridal  couple.  For 

*A  record  relating  to  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Wu  (n.  c.  140-86)  by  Pan  Ku. 
while  others  believe  that  it  was  compiled  during  the  T'ang  period  (Bretschneider, 
Botanicon  Sinicum,  Part  I,  No.  138). 

* According  to  the  Tarikh  Djihan  Kushai,  Buku  Khan,  the  king  of  the  Uighur, 
had  a dream  in  which  he  saw  a man  dressed  in  white,  who  gave  him  a piece  of  jade 
in  the  form  of  a pine  tree,  and  said  to  him;  “As  long  as  you  are  able  to  keep  this  pieee 
of  jade  in  your  possession,  you  will  rule  over  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.”  His 
minister  had  the  same  dream.  (Bretschneider  in  Journal  China  Branch  R.  Asiatic 
Society,  Vol.  X,  1876,  p.  202.) 

’Piz.  Old  age,  wealth,  health,  lov’e  of  virtue,  and  a natural  death. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X.  PL.  LXVI. 


Jade  Pomegranate  Tree  in  jar  of  Cloisonne  Enamel,  K'ien-lung  Period. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LXVIl. 


Jade  Chrysanthemums  in  Jar  of  Cloisonne  Enamel,  K'ien-lung  Period. 


1 2 3 

SO-CALLED  SCEPTRES  OF  GOOD  LUCK,  K'lEN-LUNG  PERIOD. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  X,  PL.  LXVIII. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


Explanation  of  Pl.  lxvim. 

Fig.  I.  Sceptre,  Cast-Iron,  Ornaments  inlaid  with  Gold  and  Silverwire. 

Fig.  2.  Sceptre,  carved  from  Wood  inlaid  with  Three  Plaques  of  White  Jade. 
Fig.  3.  Sceptre,  carved  from  White  Jade  with  Three  Reliefs. 


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Jade. 


335 


Feb.,  1912. 


the  same  reason  the  tree  chosen  (Plate  LX\"I)  is  the  pomegranate 
{shih-liu,  Giles  No.  7258),  the  fruit  of  which  is  also  an  emblem  of 
anti-race-suicide.  Five  large  fruits  of  agate  carved  in  forms  surpris- 
ingly true  to  nature  are  hanging  from  the  tree.  The  blossoming 
trees  also  express  the  sentence  tse  sun  ch'ang  ts'ing,  “may  your  sons 
and  grandsons  always  flourish!” 

The  leaves  are  cut  out  partially  of  jade,  partially  of  turquoise,  some 
arc  made  of  copper-foil.  The  jietals  composing  the  blossoms  are  all 
carved  out  of  different  kinds  of  jade,  agate,  and  cornelian.  To  the 
right  below  there  is  a bush  of  red  berries,  and  the  fungus  of  immortality 
(ling  chih).  The  other  pot  (Plate  LXVII)  is  less  uniform  in  the  compo- 
sition of  the  plant  design,  but  richer  in  color.  Eight  bunches  of  various 
species  of  chrysanthemums  are  groujicd  here  side  by  side,  the  petals  of 
the  blossoms  being  cut  out  of  jade  and  coral.  As  the  chrysanthemum 
is  called  fu  kuet  hua  “flower  of  wealth  and  honorable  position,”  the  wish 
fu  kuei  is  expressed  by  the  gift  of  this  flowerpot. 

On  Plate  LXYHI,  three  objects  are  grouped,  the  one  in  Fig.  i of 
iron,  the  two  others  of  jade.  These  objects,  peculiar  to  the  Chinese,  are 
knouTi  under  the  name  Ju-i,  a phrase  meaning  “as  you  desire,  according 
to  your  wish.”  At  the  present  time,  on  the  occasion  of  a birthday  or 
of  New  Year,  this  instrument  is  bestowed  upon  high  dignitaries,  or 
by  the  courtiers  on  the  sovereign,^  simply  with  the  idea  of  impl>’ing 
good  wi.shes.  Formerly,  it  was  made  also  of  gold,  silver,  rhinoceros 
horn,  bone,  rock-crystal,  bamboo,  amber  ^ and  even  iron,  all  of  which 
have  now  grown  out  of  fashion;  it  is  now  usually  carv^ed  from  wood® 
which  is  inlaid  wdth  jade  plaques  in  the  centre,  and  at  the  two  ends,  as 
shoum  in  our  Fig.  2,  Plate  LXVIII,  while  the  specimen  in  Fig.  3 of  the 
same  Plate,  entirely  carved  from  jade,  occupies  an  exceptional  place. 


* This  appears  e.g.  from  a Ju-i  in  the  Bishop  collection  (Vol.  II,  p.  147)  engraved 
with  the  inscription:  ‘‘Made  at  the  imperial  manufactory.  With  reverential  vows 
for  a succession  of  fertile  (fing)  years,  and  that  throughout  (hien)  the  world  every 
wish  be  fulfilled!  Respectfully  presented  (to  the  emperor)  by  his  servant  \\  u King.” 
The  two  words  hien  and  feng  introduced  into  the  stanza  doubtless  contain  an  allusion 
to  the  period  Ilien-feng  (1851-1861)  which  allows  us  to  infer  that  this  sceptre  was 
presented  to  the  emperor  who  reigned  under  this  title.  Dr.  Bushell  states  that  in 
the  palace  of  the  emperor  a sceptre  is  placed  in  every  reception-room  upon  a table 
before  the  throne,  usually  made  of  carved  wood  or  red  lacquer,  with  three  plaques 
of  jade  inserted  and  often  inlaid  with  jewels.  It  figures  also  among  imperial  presents 
to  high  dignitaries  as  a mark  of  special  distinction. 

*Sun  K'tian,  the  later  Wu  Ta-ti  (181-252  A.  d.,  Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary, 
p.  613)  is  recorded  to  have  owned  a Ju-i  of  amber,  while  he  still  was  prince  of  Wu. 
The  story  goes  that  he  heard  of  P'an  Fu-j6n  whose  father  he  had  condemned  to  death, 
being  a great  beauty.  He  ordered  her  portrait  to  be  painted,  and  when  the  picture 
was  brought  before  him,  he  was  seized  with  such  joyful  surprise  that  he  exclaimed: 
“This  is  a divine  woman!”  and  struck  the  table  with  his  amber  Ju-i  which  thus 
broke  to  pieces. 

’ There  are  also  specimens  of  porcelain,  brass,  gold-plated  brass,  and  even  glass. 


336  Field  ]\Iuseum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

A sceptre  of  this  make  is  bestowed  by  the  emperor  on  the  empress  on 
the  occasion  of  the  marriage  ceremony  (G.  Dev^ria,  Un  manage 
imperial  chinois,  p.  90.  Paris,  1887).  Much  has  been  written  about 
this  curious  type,  but  its  real  origin  and  history  remains  somewhat 
shrouded  in  mystery. 

Prof.  Giles  (Introduction  to  the  History  of  Chinese  Pictorial  Art, 
p.  159)  expressed  his  judgment  as  follows:  “Chao  Si-ku,  an  archaeolo- 
gist of  the  thirteenth  century,  tells  us  that  the  Ju-i  was  originally  made 
of  iron,  and  was  used  ‘ for  jiointing  the  way  ’ and  also  ‘ for  guarding 
against  the  unexpected,’  i.  e.  for  self-defence.^  It  was,  in  fact,  a kind 
of  blunt  sword,  and  traces  of  basket-work  are  still  to  be  found  inside 
what  must  have  been  the  sword-guard.  Later  on,  when  it  had  come  to 
be  merely  a part  of  ceremonial  regalia,  other  materials,  such  as  amber, 
crystal,  jade,  lacquer,  and  bamboo  were  substituted  for  iron.  This 
account  is  confirmed  by  more  recent  authorities,  and  comprises  all  we 
really  know  about  the  Ju-i,  which  to-day  is  frequently  sent  by  friend  to 
friend  as  a token  of  good  wishes  = May  you  have  your  heart’s  desire!” 
I think  this  is  in  general  a fair  statement  of  the  case,  and  we  may  add 
that  in  regard  to  no  other  object  of  their  culture  are  the  accounts  of  the 
Chinese  more  unsatisfactory  than  anent  the  Ju-i. 

The  difficulty  of  archajological  research  lies  in  the  fact  that  all  the 
present  specimens  which  can  lay  claim  to  a certain  age  do  not  go  beyond 
the  time  of  the  reign  of  K'ien-lung  (1736-1795),  and  that  no  ancient 
specimens  of  this  type  have  been  preserved;  consequently,  if  we  read  in 
ancient  texts  of  Ju-i,  we  have  no  guaranty  that  they  are  identical  with 
those  of  the  present  day  which,  after  all,  in  shape  and  design  may  be  of 
recent  date  only;  and  as  Prof.  Giles  justly  points  out,  it  was  a kind  of 
blunt  sword,  formerly.  But  how  and  when  the  transformation  into 
the  modem  type  was  accomplished,  escapes  our  knowledge.  Further- 
more, the  expression  _/M-f  may  very  well  occur  in  an  ancient  text  and 
simply  mean  “according  to  your  wish,”  without  having  any  reference 
to  an  instrument  so  named.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  fact  has  sometimes 
been  overlooked.  Thus,  e.  g.,  by  J.  Edkins  introducing  his  article 
,‘The  Ju-i,  or  Sceptre  of  Good  Fortune”  {East  of  Asia  Magazine, 

'In  his  recent  article  on  Jade  {Adversaria  Sinica,  No.  9,  p.  321),  Prof.  Giles 
gives  the  following  translation  of  this  passage  from  the  Tting  I'ien  ts'ing  lu:  ‘‘The 
men  of  old  used  the  Ju-i  for  pointing  or  indicating  the  W'ay,  and  also  for  guarding 
themselves  against  the  unforeseen.  It  was  made  of  wrought  iron,  and  was  over 
two  feet  in  length,  ornamented  with  patterns  in  silver  either  inlaid  or  overlaid.  Of 
late  years,  branches  of  trees,  which  have  grown  into  the  shape  required,  and  also 
pieces  of  bamboo,  highly  polished  to  resemble  jade,  and  prepared  without  the  aid 
of  hatchet  or  awl,  have  been  very  much  in  vogue.”  ‘‘In  .support  of  the  first  clause 
of  the  above,”  Prof.  Giles  a.dds,  ‘‘we  find  in  history  such  passages  as  (fifth  century): 
‘The  Emperor  pointed  at  him  with  his  Ju-i  and  said;’  ‘The  Emperor  rapped  on  the 
table  with  his  Ju-i  in  token  of  approbation,’  etc.” 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


337 


Vol.  Ill,  1904,  p.  238)  with  the  words:  “The  Jii-i  is  found  in  the  bi- 
ography of  King  Fang  who  died  in  the  first  century  b.  c.  At  an  au- 
dience, he  said  to  the  Emperor  Ytian-ti,  ‘ I fear  that  though  your 
Majesty  acts  in  this  way  you  will  still  not  obtain  what  accords  with 
your  wish.’  King  Fang  was  a weather-prophet  and  a student  of  the 
Book  of  Divination,  the  Vi  king.  Ju-i  means  ‘ as  you  desire.’  ” 

Dr.  Bushell  (Chinese  Art,  Vol.  I,  p.  148)  stated  that  “the  Ju-i 
sceptre  derives  its  peculiar  form  from  the  sacred  fungus  called  ling- 
chih,'^  the  Polyporus  lucidus  of  botanists,  one  of  the  many  Taoist  em- 
blems of  longevity.”  This  is  a reversion  of  the  logical  order  of  things. 
The  Ju-i  was  in  existence,  and  the  fungus  of  immortality  was  one  of  the 
ornaments  applied  to  it,  but  not  instrumental  in  the  production  of  the 
shape  of  the  entire  object.  There  are  many  Ju-i  where  this  ornament 
is  absent,  as,  e.  g.,  the  three  specimens  in  our  collection  do  not  exhibit 
any  trace  of  it.  Nor  am  I inclined  to  accept  as  evidence  the  passage 
adduced  by  Bushell  (Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  49)  from  the  “Biography  of 
Hu  Tsung”  where  we  read  that  “during  the  Wu  dynasty,  when  digging 
the  ground,  there  was  found  a bronze  casket  in  which  was  a Jii-i  of 
white  jade.  The  sovereign  questioned  Tsung  who  replied  that  Ts'in 
Shih-huang,  on  account  of  the  existence  of  the  spirit  of  the  Son 
of  Heaven  in  Nanking  (?),  had  buried  precious  things  there  in 
several  plaees  to  keep  down  the  sovereign  spirit.  ” ^ There  is  no  reason 
to  adopt  this  personal  interpretation  of  Tsung,  and  to  credit  the  Ts'in 
period  wdth  the  existence  in  it  of  the  Ju-i. 

The  anecdote  of  Shih  Ts'ung  smashing  a coral-tree  \Hth  an  iron  Ju-i 
(Petillon,  Allusions  litteraires,  p.  240;  Edkins,  /.  c.,  p.  238)  is  of  little, 
if  any,  historical  value;  but  shows,  according  to  Edkins,  that  the  Ju-i 
is,  in  this  case,  an  implement  of  destructive  power  influenced  by  Bud- 
dhist ideas.  Edkins,  referring  to  Eitel’s  “Handbook  of  Chinese  Bud- 
dhism” (p.  130),  makes  it  a point  that  the  Chinese  Buddhist 
term  ju-i  sMn  (“a  body  transmutable  at  will”)  relates  to  the 
magical  power  of  assuming  a body  without  dimensions  and  weight, 
and  that  the  ehief  signification  of  Ju-i  among  the  Buddhists  is  con- 
quering power.  If  we  stand  on  the  solid  basis  of  facts,  we  observe  that 
the  first  representations  of  Ju-i  of  the  type  known  to  us  make  their 
appearance  in  the  hands  of  Buddhist  deities  on  paintings  of  the  T'ang 

' The  same  suggestion  had  already  been  proposed  by  P^tillon,  Allusions  lit- 
t^raires,  p.  241,  Note. 

*The  passage,  as  quoted  in  Bushell’s  text,  is  much  abbreviated,  and  in  all 
probability,  not  adequately  translated.  The  complete  text  will  be  found  in  the 
T'u  shu  tsi  ch'ing,  Action  32,  Ch.  237,  Ju-i  pu  ki  shih.  — Also  Prof.  Giles  (/.  c., 
p.  320)  refers  to  this  passage  as  the  earliest  allusion  in  Chinese  literature  to  the  Ju-i; 
according  to  Giles,  Hu  Tsung  died  in  243  .^.  d. 


338  Field.  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Axtii.,  Vol.  X. 

period,  thus,  e.  g.  in  the  right  hand  of  a Mahjugn  by  Wu  Tao-tsed  As 
far  as  I know,  this  s\Tnbol  never  occurs  in  the  Gandhara  sculptures  nor 
in  any  Chinese-Buddhist  sculpture  from  the  Wei  down  to  the  T'ang 
period,  but  in  painting  exclusively.  In  the  case  of  ManjugrI,  it  might 
be  appropriate  to  assume  that  the  Ju-i  takes  the  jilace  of  the  sword 
which  is  his  usual  attribute;  but  a good  many  variations  occur  placing 
certain  reservations  on  too  premature  conclusions  of  this  kind.  The 
Japanese  painter  Sesshu  (1420-1506)  pictured  a IVIanjugri  astride  a 
lion,  holding  a Ju-i  in  his  left  hand  and  nothing  in  his  right,  while  he 
is  always  holding  the  sword  in  his  right.  In  two  other  paintings,  by 
Mincho  and  Sanraku  Kano  respectively  {Kokka,  Nos.  82  and  117),  this 
Bodhisatva  is  holding  the  Ju-i  in  his  right  and  a book -roll  in  his  left. 
Again,  in  a Chinese  painting  ascribed  to  Chang  Se-kung(A'e^^a,  No.  149), 
he  is  holding  the  Ju-i  in  his  uplifted  right  and  leaning  its  end  on  the 
palm  of  his  left.  Again  turning  to  No.  168  of  the  same  Journal,  we 
find  a splendidly  painted  Manjugrl  attributed  to  the  Kose  School  of 
the  twelfth  century,  in  which  the  attributes  of  the  god  are  a sword  in 
his  right  and  the  sacred  lotus-flower  in  his  left.  It  vvill  be  noticed  here 
that  the  stem  of  the  lotus  describes  the  same  curve  as  the  handle  of 
the  Ju-i,  and  that  the  flower  is  shaped  very  much  like  the  upper  part 
of  our  iron  Ju-i  (in  Fig.  i,  Plate  LX\TII);^  the  lion,  on  whose  back 
the  god  is  placed,  has  a lotus-blossom  under  each  foot,  the  petals  being 
of  a conventional  geometric  form,  such  as  is  found  also  in  the  upper 
jiarts  of  the  Ju-i.  The  lotus-flower  with  long  stem  is  frequent  in  the 
hands  of  Bodhi.satvas,  conspicuous  e.  g.  on  the  sculptures  in  the  cave- 
temples  of  Lung-men  in  Honan  (see  e.  g.  Ciiavannes,  Mission  archd- 
ologique  dans  la  Chine  septentrionale.  No.  397),  and  certainly  in  the 
Indian  sculptures,  and  in  the  Nepalese  and  Tibetan  paintings  (many 
examples  in  A.  Fouciier,  Ltude  sur  I’iconographie  bouddhique  de 
I’Inde,  and  L’art  greco-bouddhique;  A.  Grunwedel,  Collection  Uchtom- 
ski.  Part  II,  p.  13).  I do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  Buddhist  emblem 
called  Ju-i  has  developed  from  the  lotus,  though  I think  that  the 
alternation  of  I)oth  is  suggestive.  But  it  is  not  necessary  at  all  to 
assume  that  the  Chinese  Ju-i  in  general  is  of  Buddhist  origin,  as  sup- 
posed e.  g.  by  W.  Anderson,  Catalogue  of  Japanese  and  Chinese  Paint- 

' Celebrated  Paintings  of  China,  Vol.  I,  Plate  II  (Tokyo,  Shimbi  Shoin,  1907). 
The  upper  part  of  this  Ju-i  shows  a spiral-shaped  cloud-pattern  and  a knob  with 
coral;  the  blade  is  adorned  with  four  studs.  In  the  same  volume  is  reproduced  a 
Samantabhadra  by  Ma  Lin,  holding  in  his  right  a Ju-i  on  which  the  figure  of  a 
Buddha  is  represented. 

* Compare  A.  Foucher,  fitude  sur  I’iconographre  bouddhique  de  1’  Inde,  p.  115, 
Paris,  1900,  and  II.  Part,  p.  43,  Paris,  1905. 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


339 


ings,  p.  32,  Notc).^  It  may  very  well  be  that  the  implement  is  Chinese 
in  origin  and  even  prebuddhistic,  and  that,  as  in  so  many  other  things, 
a kind  of  compromise  took  place,  resulting  in  the  assimilation  and  amal- 
gamation of  two  ideas  and  two  forms. 

Also  Prof.  Giles  (/.  c.,  p.  321)  justly  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
the  prevalence  of  the  lotus-flower  as  a decoration,  though  due  of  course 
to  the  influence  of  Buddhism,  is  scarcely  sufficient  evidence  of  “a 
religious  origin”  {versus  Davis).  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  original 
significance  of  this  implement  has  been  lost  long  ago.  It  seems  to  me 
that  it  may  have  grown  out  of  one  of  the  early  jade  emblems  of  the 
Chou  period  which,  as  we  saw  in  Ch.  II,  were  developed  from  ancient 
types  of  implements,  and  that  in  the  beginning  it  was  a s\Tnbol  of  light, 
generative  power  and  fertility.  The  fact  that  on  the  occasion  of  his 
marriage  the  emperor  writes  the  character  for  dragon  {lung)  on  a slip 
of  paper  to  be  placed  by  four  princesses  in  the  palanquin  of  the  em- 
press, together  with  two  jade  Ju-i  (Deveria,  /.  c.),  is  doubtless  an  out- 
come of  that  ancient  idea.  As  said  above,  there  are  no  ancient  speci- 
mens left,  and  material  of  this  kind  must  be  awaited,  before  a satisfactory 
conclusion  can  be  reached. 

Figure  1 on  Plate  LX\TII  represents  a Ju-i  of  iron,  which  may  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  original  forms  of  this  instrument,  the  orna- 
ments being  incrustated  with  silver  and  gold  wire  (K'ien-lung  period) ; 
presumably,  the  oldest  type  of  this  implement  is  preserv’ed  in  this 
specimen.  On  the  blade  curved  downward  two  dragons  soaring  in 
the  clouds  are  playing  around  the  sun-ball.  On  the  handle,  eight 
emblems  are  represented  which  are,  — a fan  consisting  of  a banana-leaf, 
a two-edged  sword,  the  sacrificial  vase  Isun,  a pair  of  castanets,  a cala- 
bash, a flute,  a blossoming  flower,  and  a basket  with  handle. 

The  sceptre  in  Fig.  2 (47.5  cm  long)  is  car\-ed  from  blackwood  on 
which  three  medallions  carved  from  white  jade  are  mounted  wdth  pic- 
tures of  plum-blossoms,  fungus  and  chr\-santhemums  in  relief.  That 
in  Fig.  3 (40.7  cm  long)  is  entirely  carved  from  white  jade  wdth  repre- 
sentations of  the  gods  of  luck  rowing  over  a lake  in  boats  with  a basket 
supposed  to  contain  their  supernatural  gifts.  Rocks  and  pine-trees 
fill  the  scenery.  These  three  varieties  represent  all  the  essential  types 
of  this  implement. 

' As  is  well  known,  the  Ju-i  occurs  also  in  the  hands  of  Taoist  deities  and  priests, 
Buddhist  monks  and  nuns,  especially  on  commemorative  portraits  of  the  latter  in 
temples.  There  is  nothing  of  special  interest  in  these  that  could  throw  light  on  the 
subject.  The  Japanese  seem  to  have  nothing  to  say  regarding  it;  at  least,  in  their 
great  Buddhist  Pantheon  published  under  the  title  Shoso  Butsu  zd  dzu-i  (Vol.  5, 
p.  16),  only  an  outline  figure  of  the  Ju-i  {nio-i)  is  given,  without  any  comment. 


APPENDIX  I 


JADE  IN  BUDDHIST  ART 

In  our  collection  there  are  several  jade  carvings  of  Buddhistic  and 
Taoistic  images  which  will  be  treated  in  a separate  monograph  dealing 
wnth  Buddhist  stone  sculpture.  Also  the  Ku  yil  t'u  p'u  (Ch.  98)  figures 
six  religious  subjects  executed  in  jade.  One  of  these  has  a particular 
interest  for  us,  as  it  is  connected  with  the  name  of  the  great  iminter 
Yen  Li-pen  of  the  T'ang  period,  who  worked  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
seventh  century  (Giles,  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Chinese  Pictorial 
Art,  p.  38;  Hirth,  Scraps  from  a Collector’s  Note  Book,  p.  66).  In  the 
course  of  this  study,  we  have  had  occasion  to  refer  several  times  to  the 
names  of  painters  and  to  pictorial  influence  penetrating  into  the  decora- 
tive motives  of  jades.  To  this  tendency,  which  seems  to  set  in  from  the 
beginning  of  the  tenth  century,  we  owe  the  presentation  of  some  ancient 
pictures  which  would  otherwise  be  lost.  If  not  exact  copies,  they  are 
authentic  in  so  far  that  they  preserve  the  style  of  the  master  and  make 
us  acquainted  with  the  subject  which  he  treated.  As  we  were  forced 
to  expose  the  Sung  Catalogue  of  Jades  to  severe  criticism,  it  will  be  a 
matter  of  justice  to  credit  it  also  with  what  is  good  in  it,  and  to  empha- 
size this  merit  of  ha\dng  transmitted  to  us  a certain  amount  of  valuable 
pictorial  material. 

The  medallion-picture  here  reproduced  in  Fig.  201  is  canned  on  a 
slab  of  jade  light-green  and  white,  two  feet  six  inches  (Chinese)  long, 
two  feet  one  inch  wide,  and  1.6  hiches  thick.  The  title  given  to  the 
picture  by  the  editors  of  the  work  is  in  the  original  on  the  upper  right 
hand  .side  outside  of  the  frame,  but  here  inserted  inside  in  the  upper 
left  for  technical  reasons.  It  reads:’  “Ancient  jade  image  of  P'u-hien 
(Samantabhadra),  the  Great  Master  (Mahasatva).”  An  inscription  of 
seven  lines  is  carved  in  the  slab  which  may  thus  be  translated:  “ In  the 

period  K'ai-p'ing  (907-91 1 a.  d.)  of  the  Great  Liang  (z.  e.  Hou  Liang) 
dynasty,  from  the  imperial  treasury,  bestowed  by  imperial  command  as 
a dedication  on  the  temple  Hung  ming  (sze).  Carved  by  the  jade- 
cutter  P'eng  Tsu-shou.  Picture  of  how  the  Great  Master  has  his  ele- 
phant wa.shed.  Style  approaching  that  of  Yen  Li-pen.” 

In  the  palace  of  the  Sung  emperois,  forty-five  scrolls  ascribed  to  this 
artist  were  still  preserved  {Siian  ho  hua  p'u,  Ch.  i,  p.  8) ; and,  though  the 
subject  of  the  present  picture  is  not  mentioned  there  in  the  list  of  his 

341 


342  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

works,  we  may  presume  that  a copy  or  copies  of  that  motive  had  sur- 
^’^ved  up  to  that  date,  or  at  least  to  the  period  alluded  to  in  the  inscrip- 


FIG.  201. 

“Brushing  the  Elephant  of  Samantabhadra," 
• in  the  style  of  the  Painter  Yen  Li-p4n. 
Jade  Carving  of  the  Period  007-911  A.  D. 
(from  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u). 


tion  which  is  that  usurped  by  the  rebel  Chu  Wen  (854-914  A.  D.,  Giles, 
Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  188),  who  assassinated  the  last  cmiicror 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


343 


of  the  T'ang  djTiasty  and  mounted  the  throne  in  907  as  first  emperor  of 
the  Later  Liang  d\Tiasty.  The  Sung  editors  pass  their  verdict  on  the 
value  of  this  reproduction  as  follows:  “In  this  carving  of  the  Great 

Master  Samantabhadra,  the  subject  of  the  painting  ‘Washing  the 
Elephant’  by  Yen  Li-pen  of  the  T'ang  period  is  imitated.  There,  the 
image  of  the  Buddha,  the  gods  (Deva)  with  their  attendants,  the  serv^ants 
of  the  elephant,  the  elephant  itself  and  another  quadrujjcd  are  all 
represented.  But  the  most  clever  representation,  though  excellent  in 
its  merits  as  a copy,  cannot  reach  the  original.  In  the  method  of  carv- 
ing, however,  it  is  of  ])crfect  workmanship.” 

This  judgment  is  worthy  of  note,  for  it  shows  in  what  high  estimation 
the  work  of  Yen  was  held  in  the  Sung  period,  and  that,  as  1 understand, 
the  reproduction  in  question  repeats  the  composition  and  style,  but  not 
the  true  spirit  or  individual  touch  of  the  original.  It  should  be  added 
that,  according  to  the  Sung  Catalogue  of  Painters  {Sitan  ho  htia  p'u, 
Ch.  I,  p.  5 b),  the  same  subject  had  been  painted  by  Chang  Seng-yu 
of  the  sixth  century. 

Prof.  Giles  (/.  c.)  has  given  a brief  description  of  this  subject  after 
a woodcut  inserted  in  the  h\ing-shih  mo  p'u  of  1588  where  some  changes 
are  introduced,  and  has  remarked  that  it  is  not  easy  to  say  to  what  this 
picture  refers.  The  explanation  afforded  by  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u  rendeis 
it  sufficiently  clear.  We  now  know  that  it  is  the  question  of  Saman- 
tabhadra’s  elephant,  which  s\Tnbolizcs  care,  caution,  gentleness,  and  a 
weighty  dignity  (Edkins,  Chinese  Buddhism,  p.  385).  This  Bodhisatva 
is  usually  represented  as  mounted  on  an  elephant  and  grouped  into  a 
triad  with  the  image  of  Buddha  in  the  centre  and  that  of  ManjugrI  on 
a lion’s  back.  A Nepalese  miniature  depicting  him  astride  an  elephant 
is  reproduced  in  A.  Foucher’s  “fitude  sur  I’iconographie  bouddhique 
de  rinde”  (Plate  VI,  No.  2;  Paris,  1900).  The  cult  of  this  god  who 
s^Tubolizcs  goodness  and  happiness  is  localized  on  the  famous  mountain 
Ngo-mei  in  Sze-ch'uan  Province,  where  is  erected  in  the  temple  Wan- 
nien  sze  a colossal  statue  of  the  elephant,  cast  of  white  copper  and  twelve 
feet  high,  surmounted  by  the  image  of  the  Bodhisatva  enthroned  on  a 
bronze  lotus-flower.^  Each  of  his  feet  rests  on  a lotus  of  bronze,  in  the 

* Described  by  E.  C.  Baber,  Travels  and  Researches  in  Western  China,  pp.  32-33, 
and  A.  J.  Little,  Mount  Omi  and  Beyond,  p.  63,  London,  1901.  The  six  tusks  of 
the  elephant  mentioned  by  him  and  noticed  by  W.  Anderson  (Catalogue  of  Japanese 
and  Chinese  Paintings,  p.  81)  on  a Japanese  scroll  of  the  eighteenth  century  seem  to 
be  a later  addition,  suggested  by  the  legend  of  the  six-tusked  elephant  in  whose 
shape  Buddha  entered  the  womb  of  his  mother  (compare  Speyer,  Zeitschrift  d. 
Deutschen  Morgenl.  Ges.,  Vol.  LVII,  1903,  p.  305).  Yen’s  painting  could  certainly 
not  be  cited  as  evidence  for  the  fact  that  Samantabhadra’s  elephant  originally  had 
only  two  tusks,  for  his  aim  was  to  delineate  a lifelike  scene.  But  from  the  beautiful 
religious  painting  by  Wu  Tao-tse  preserved  in  the  temple  T6fuku-ji  near  Kyoto 
(Celebrated  Painters  of  China,  Vol.  I,  Plate  III,  Tokyo,  1907)  we  glean  the  fact 


344  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

same  way  as  lotus-flowers  are  carv'ed  under  his  feet  in  our  picture. 
This  statue  is  celebrated  all  over  Tibet  and  alluded  to  in  Tibetan  history 
(G.  Huth,  Geschichte  des  Buddhismus  in  der  Mongolei,  Vol.  II,  p.  414, 
Strassbimg,  1896).  There,  it  is  referred  to  a prophecy  related  in  the 
Sutra  of  the  Predictions  of  the  Elephant-Mountain.  This  notice  is 
important,  as  it  will  possibly  lead  along  the  right  track  in  discovering 
the  legend  which  forms  the  basis  of  the  picture  under  consideration. 

The  Bodhisatva  has  alighted  from  the  animal  and  is  standing  on  the 
left  of  it  with  folded  hands;  his  smiling  face  is  bearded,  and  his  head  is 
tonsured.  A flower  seems  to  merge  from  behind  his  left  shoulder. ‘ 
He  wears  the  long  flowing  monk’s  garb.  There  is  a monk  in  front  of 
him,  gazing  at  the  elephant,  turning  his  shaven  head  to  the  spectator. 
A boy  is  carrying  on  his  right  shoulder  a package  of  sacred  books  sur- 
mounted by  a flaming  jewel,  and  is  leaning  his  left  on  his  bent  knee  in 
order  to  relieve  the  weight  of  his  burden.  In  the  background  on  the 
left,  we  notice  three  worshippers  praying  vdth  their  hands  folded,  a 
monk  and  two  la\Tnen,  or  gods,  as  supposed  in  the  Ku  yii  t'u  p'u.  The 
animal  turning  its  nose  wdth  a certain  admiration  toward  the  elephant 
has  one  horn  and  a scaly  body;  it  is  doubtless  introduceji  as  an  inferior 
creature  to  illustrate  the  superiority  of  the  sacred  elephant  in  all  his 
glory.  His  head  is  bridled,  but  he  seems  to  feel  quite  cheerful  over  the 
situation.  A queer-looking  attendant  pours  streams  of  water  out  of  a 
jar  over  his  back,  and  a youthful  boy  in  a kneeling  posture,  clad  only 
with  an  apron,  is  engaged  in  sweeping  his  back  with  a broom. 

The  composition  of  this  little  picture  is  admirable.  The  elephant’s 
brushing  is  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  scene,  and  everything  radiates 
from  this  action,  all  participants  fixing  their  attention  on  this  point, 
either  adoring  or  admiiing  the  jolly  monster.  Simiilicity  predominates, 
and  superfluous  additions  liable  to  deti  act  the  attention  of  the  looker-on 
are  wisely  discarded.  There  is  no  scenery  for  background,  except  the 
ornamental  clouds  hanging  above  and  stretching  below.  The  unity 
of  the  composition  is  strictly  adhered  to  in  the  accentuation  of  the  one 
sacred  act,  a touch  of  serene  humor  being  spread  over  the  whole.  Anoth- 

that  this  was  really  the  case  under  the  T'ang.  Notable  here  is  the  bright  intelligent 
smile  in  the  elephant’s  face;  he  is  squatting  on  the  ground  and  wears  gold  earrings. 
The  Bodhisatva,  of  white  skin,  adofned  with  all  royal  ornaments,  double  earrings,  a 
feminine  hairdressing  with  gold  pin,  coral  brooch  and  lotus,  is  seated  on  the  eie- 
phant’s  back,  the  left  foot  hanging  down,  the  right  one  drawn  up,  reading  in  a book 
of  brown  leaves  inscribed  with  characters  in  gold.  — Of  Chinese  literature  on  the 
Ngo-mei  shan,  the  Ngo  shan  t'u  shuo  (2  V’^ols.,  1889)  deserves  special  mention;  it 
contains  a series  of  good  wood-engravings  depicting  all  the  scenery  and  temples  of 
this  place  of  pilgrimage. 

* Judging  from  the  painting  of  \Vu  Tao-tse,  it  is  a lotus  stuck  into  his  hair.  Note 
the  difference  between  the  two  pictures:  there,  he  is  the  god  in  full  apparel  and  of 
feminine  appearance;  here,  he  is  the  bearded  monk  with  tonsure  and  without  jewels. 


Jade. 


345 


Feb.,  1912. 


er  nicety  of  the  composition  is  the  posture  of  the  elephant  taken  from 
the  front  which  allowed  the  artist  to  centre  it  correctly,  and  to  elevate 
its  back  so  high  that  the  sweeper  rises  into  prominent  view.  Yen  Li- 
pen  surely  was  an  artist  who  knew  what  he  wanted,  and  who  could  carry 
his  intentions  into  effect.  Painted  in  colors,  his  work  must  have  created 
a lasting  impression.  The  elephant  is  certainly  animated  by  “life’s 
motion;”  his  head  is  finely  modeled,  his  drooping  ears,  trunk  and  tusks 
are  true  to  nature,  and  he  seems  to  enjoy  the  ticklish  sensations  from 
his  shampoo.  The  attempt  to  mark  the  folds  in  the  skin  of  the  pachy- 
dcnn  is  no  less  remarkable,  and  the  painter  seems  to  have  made  earnest 
studies  of  the  animal  from  life.  Altogether,  this  picture  pre.sents  an 
intimate  genre-scene  of  Buddhist  art,  an  offshoot  of  the  epoch  of  the 
T'ang,  such  as  no  other  of  this  class  has  survived,  and  the  Sung  Cata- 
logue of  Jades  deserves  our  thanks  for  its  preserv’ation. 

In  modem  wood-engraving,  this  motive  has  been  frequently  copied. ‘ 
We  alluded  to  the  cut  in  the  Fang-shih  mo  p'u  (Ch.  5,  p.  21  b)  which  is  a 
poor  makeshift,  and  Prof.  Giles  (/.  c.)  was  quite  right  in  the  remark  that 
it  is  not  easy  to  gather  from  this  woodcut  that  the  painter  was  a great 
artist  in  our  sense  of  the  term.  It  is  here  reproduced  in  Fig.  202  for  no 
other  reason  than  to  afford  an  instructive  comparison  between  a good 
and  a dead  copy  of  an  ancient  painting.  It  is  not  stated  from  which 
source  this  copy  is  taken;  the  legend  in  the  upper  right  comer  refers  it 
to  T'ang  Yen  Li-pen.  The  elephant  has  turned  here  into  an  automatic 
machine,  and  all  figures  bear  a stiff  wooden  character;  all  spirituality 
is  lost.  Note  the  emaciated  arm  and  leg  and  the  horrible  hand  of  the 
boy  shouldering  a box  (supposed  to  contain  sacred  books),  the  exag- 
gerated flames  of  the  jewel,  the  insipid  change  in  the  costumes,  head- 
dresses and  faces  of  the  two  laymen,  the  wrong  attitude  of  the  man 
pouring  the  water,  and  the  caricature  of  the  sweeper  who  is  standing 
on  the  animal’s  back,  instead  of  kneeling,  and  touching  udth  the  end 
of  his  broom  a cloud  on  which  a book-case  is  hovering,  — an  additional 
flatness.  Luckily,  the  bad  quality  of  this  picture  is  exceptional  in 


‘ In  a modern  wood-engraving  printed  in  Nanking  and  representing  a sermon  of 
Buddha  before  the  assembly  of  monks,  Manjugri  is  riding  on  the  lion's  back  m the 
foreground,  and  to  his  left  an  elephant  is  being  vehemently  scrubbed.  Hokusai 
has  in  his  Mangwa  (Vol.  13.  P-  20)  the  sketch*of  an  elephant  washed  by  six  rnen. 
The  believers  in  the  superiority  of  Japanese  over  Chinese  art  should  not  tail  to  look 
up  this  freakish  caricature,  and  to  compare  it  with  Yen’s  natural  creation.  Hoku- 
sai’s elephant  is  provided  with  bear-claws!  The  objection  that  he  had  had  no 
chance  to  see  a live  specimen  is  not  valid;  he  had  occasion  enough  to  observe  good 
models  in  Buddhist  art.  And  see  at  the  same  time  on  p.  23  the  combination  of  a 
camel  with  a cocoanut-tree!  Nobody  would  think  that  this  creature  with  sh^tp 
eagle-claws  should  represent  a camel,  if  the  name  were  not  printed  beside  it.  And 
then  there  was  a time  when  a shallow  mind  like  Hokusai  could  be  considered  in 
Europe  as  a revelation  of  East-Asiatic  art. 


346  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

the  Fang-shih  mo  p'u,  which  is  a work  of  great  merit  and  value  for  the 
study  of  decorative  and  pictorial  motives. 

It  is  not  yet  ascertained  how  old  this  fonn  of  Samantabhadra  mount- 
ed on  the  elephant  is,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  originated 
in  China,  not  in  India.  In  the  Lamaist  iconography  of  Tibet  this  form 
is  strikingly  absent,  and  the  god  is  usually  represented  as  sitting  on  the 


FiC.  202. 

“Brushing  the  Elephant” 
(Woodcut  from  Fang-shih  mo  P'u). 


seed-pod  of  a lotus-flower  (see  A.  Grunwedel,  Mythologie  des  Bud- 
dhismus,  p.  140).  Also  in  China,  a sitting  image  of  his  has  been 
preserved,  likewise  a carving  in  jade  illustrated  in  the  Ku  yii  i 11  p u 
(Fig.  203)  and  preceding  the  one  just  described.  It  is  entitled:  “Mir- 
aculous Buddhist  image,  of  ancient  jade,  representing  the  Great  Master 
P'u-men  (Samantabhadra).’’  It  is  car\’ed  out  of  a slab  of  pure-white 
flawless  jade,  measuring  two  feet  four  inches  in  height,  two  feet  in  width, 
two  inches  and  two-tenths  in  thickness.  On  this  picture,  the  Bo- 


Feb.,  IQI2. 


J.ADE. 


347 


dhisatva  is  conceived  of  as  a hermit  or  recluse  seated  under  a rock-shelter, 
or  in  a cave  on  a heap  of  rushes,  or  on  a rush-mat,  the  alms-bowl  at  his 
right  and  a flowervase  with  a bare  twig  in  it  behind,  his  person  being 


Fig.  203. 

Ancient  Jade  Carving  representing  the  Bodhisatva  Samantabhadra 
(from  Ku  yti  t'n  p'u). 


enveloped  by  clouds;  regarding  the  style  of  the  latter  even  the  editors 
remark  that  it  is  pictorial.  It  is  evident  that  this  representation  is 
copied  from  a painting.  The  snail-like  curls  of  the  head  and  beard  are 
noticed  in  the  text.  We  further  remark  the  smile  of  the  face,  — for 
he  is,  as  his  name  implies,  the  Good  One,  — the  earring,  the  long  drawn- 
out  ear,  the  eye  of  wdsdom  on  the  forehead,  and  the  slight  bending 


348  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

forward  of  the  body.  It  is  curious  that  the  hands  are  not  outlined, 
but  disappear  under  the  robe,  as  if  to  avoid  the  chilly  mist  of  the  clouds. 

The  story  of  this  image  is  reported  as  follows:  “In  the  period 

Hi-ning  (1068-1078  a.  d.)  of  the  Sung  dynasty,  the  Empress-Dowager 
Hiian-jen  was  an  adherent  of  Buddha  and  commanded  Kao  K'an  with 
the  office  of  nei-shih  tu-chih  to  take  along  and  offer  imperial  incense, 
and  to  represent  the  Court  on  the  island  of  P'u-t'o  ^ in  the  worship  of 
the  Great  Master  Samantabhadra  and  the  Bodhisatva  Avalokitegvara. 
In  the  cave  Ch'ao-yin  (“The  Sound  of  the  Tide”)  he  proclaim.ed  the 
imperial  will,  when  suddenly  the  voice  of  thunder  sounded  in  this  cave, 
accompanied  by  a torrent  of  water  which  brought  this  image  to  light. 
Kao  K'an  hurriedly  received  the  image  and  reported  to  the  throne. 
The  Empress  Dowager  received  it  respectfully  in  the  palace  in  order  to 
establish  a regular  cult  for  this  image,  for  it  was  a heavenly  most  precious 
gift.” 

The  Ch'ao-yin  cave  mentioned  in  this  text  is  illustrated  and  briefly 
described  in  the  Chinese  Chronicle  of  the  Island  {P'u-t'o  shan  chi, 
edition  of  1739,  Ch.  i,  p.  9).  The  jade  carving  of  the  image  must  have 
existed  before  the  year  1068.  If  I am  not  mistaken,  the  style  of  drawing 
here  displayed  is  that  of  the  Buddhist  painters  of  the  T'ang  period,  and 
the  artistic  inspiration  underlying  the  composition  seems  rather  to 
testify  in  favor  of  than  to  militate  against  such  a supposition.  Creative 
power  in  the  production  of  Buddhist  subjects  seems  to  have  prevailed 
much  stronger  under  the  T'ang  than  under  the  Sung.  Also  the  Sung 
tradition  that  this  image  represents  Samantabhadra  need  not  be 
questioned.  We  have  thus,  to  recapitulate,  three  well  authenticated 
types  of  this  Bodhisatva  coming  down  from  the  T'ang  epoch,  — the 
jiurely  religious  form  of  the  cult  represented  by  the  painting  of  Wu 
Tao-tse  depicting  him  as  the  Bodhisatva,  the  genial  human  monk  by. 
Yen  Li-pen,  and  the  happy  meditating  recluse  by  an  unknown  artist; 
the  two  latter  indubitably  personal  inventions  of  individual  masters. 

I may  be  allowed  to  add  in  Fig.  204  a fourth  variety  which  is  repro- 
duced from  a Japanese  wood-engraving  made  after  a painting  of  Sesshu 
(1420-1506).  This  Samantabhadra  forms  a triad  with  Cakyamuni 
and  Manjugri  to  whom  wo  alluded  above  in  the  notes  on  the  Ju-i. 
Though  revealing  many  points  of  resemblance  with  the  picture  of  Wu 

* The  famous  island  in  the  Chusan  Archipelago,  east  of  Ningpo,  devoted  to  the  cult 
of  Avalokitegvara  (Kuan-yin)\  described  by  G.  Smith  (Narrative  of  an  Exploratory 
Visit  to  Each  of  the  Consular  Cities  of  China,  pp.  264-278,  New  York,  1847),  J.  Ed- 
KiNS  (Chinese  Buddhism,  pp.  259  et  seq.)  and  many  others.  I spent  a week  there  in 
July  1901.  When  passing  through  Calcutta  in  March  1908,  1 happened  to  meet 
a Buddhist  monk  from  that  island  who  had  traveled  the  whole  distance,  speak- 
ing no  other  language  than  Chinese,  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  among  his  coun- 
trymen funds  for  rebuilding  the  temples  of  P'u-t'o. 


349 


Feb.,  1912. 


Jade. 


i 


Fig.  204. 

Picture  of  Samantabhadra  by  Sesshu 
(from  Japanese  Wood-Engraving). 


350  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

I 

Tao-tse,  there  are  many  traits  stamping  the  work  of  Sesshu  as  an  in- 
dependent production.  The  position  in  which  the  elephant  is  drawn, 
and  the  bold  dashes  of  the  brush  marking  its  massive  head  and  trunk 
betray  a self-conscious  genius.  The  new  feature,  from  an  iconographic 
point  of  view,  is  the  conception  of  the  Bodhisatva  who  is  plainly  clad, 
without  any  jewels  and  hair-omaments,  and  wears  his  hair  flowing  down 
his  shoulders.  This  cannot  be  interpreted  as  a feminine  feature,  as 
the  MahjuQri  in  this  group  is  represented  in  the  same  style  of  hair- 
dressing. It  is  difficult  to  guess  what  the  artist’s  intention  really  was. 
Samantabhadra  here  appears  neither  as  the  Bodhisatva  in  the  traditional 
form  nor  as  the  monk,  but  simply  as  the  reader  of  a Buddhist  text  on  a 
scroll.  In  our  collection,  there  is  an  ancient  wood-carving,  probably 
of  the  Ming  period,  from  a temple  in  Si-ngan  fu,  representing  Saman- 
tabhadra sitting  on  a recumbent  elephant,  also  with  long  flowing  hair, 
but  not  reading  nor  holding  any  at  tribute.  ‘ 

When  I visited  the  sacred  isle  of  P'u-t'o  ten  years  ago,  I was  shown 
in  one  of  the  temples  (P'u-tsi  szc)  a jade-carved  statue  of  the  goddess 
Kuan-yin.  Almost  life-size,  she  is  represented  gracefully  reclining, 
resting  her  chin  on  the  right  palm,  sleeping,  in  the  posture  of  Buddha’s 
Nirvana.  The  body  is  dressed  in  gorgeous  silk  attire,  and  the  head  is 
]iaintcd  in  colors.  The  image  is  kept  under  a glass  case,  and  I saw  it 
shortly  before  sunset  when  the  last  sunrays  produced  a marvelous  effect 
on  the  snow-white  transparent  jade.  I was  informed  that  this  work 
had  but  recently  been  executed  in  Canton  at  a cost  of  10,000  Mexican 
dollars  through  subscriptions  raised  by  a pious  community.  It  is  not 
only  one  of  the  most  magnificent  works  of  sculpture  ever  executed  in 
China,  but  also  the  most  lifelike  piece  of  statuary  I have  ever  seen.  It 
inspires  an  impression  which  cannot  be  forgotten,  and  is  a li\' ing  proof 
that  art  is  still  alive  in  China,  if  opportunities  are  offered. 

' A Japanese  wood-carving  of  Samantabhadra  sitting  on  a lotus  and  posed  on  a 
standing  elephant  see  in  Annales  du  Musee  Guimel,  Bibl.  d’ etudes,  Vol.  PL  XI. 
A painting  of  the  same  type  where  the  elephant  seems  to  be  wading  through  water  in 
Sei-ichi  T.\ki,  Three  Essays  on  Oriental  Painting,  Pl:u,e  I.  London,  1910. 


APPENDIX  II 


THE  NEPHRITE  QUESTION  OF  JAPAN 

It  is  well  known  that  among  the  antiquities  of  early  Japan  which 
may  be  dated  roughly  from  a few  centuries  b.  c.  down  to  the  sixth  and 
seventh  centuries  a.  d.,  two  kinds  of  ornamental  stones  are  prominent, — 
the  kudalama,  oblong  perforated  cylinders,  and  the  niagatama,  curved 
or  comma-shaped  beads,  both  referred  to  in  the  Kojiki  and  Nihongi 
and  found  in  large  numbers  in  the  ancient  graves.  They  were  pre- 
sumably strung  and  worn  as  necklaces.  The  niagatama  were  made  of 
various  stone  material  of  which  N.  G.  Munro  (Prehistoric  Japan, 
p.  456)  enumerates  the  following  list: — agate,  jasper,  chalcedony,  ser- 
pentine, steatite,  quartz,  crystal,  glass,  jade,  chrysoprase  and  nephrite; 
\\dth  the  remark  that  the  three  latter  are  not  found  in  Japan.  Also 
W.  G.  Aston  (Nihongi,  Vol.  I,  p.  49)  gives  nephrite  as  one  of  the 
materials  for  magatama,  and  adds  that  some  of  those  materials  do  not 
occur  in  Japan.  H.  v.  Siebold,  I believe,  was  the  first  to  suspect  the 
Chinese  origin  of  these  nephrite  magatama,  and  the  geologist  E.  Milne, 
first  brought  to  light  the  fact  that  this  mineral  is  never  met  wnth  in 
Japan.  But  all  authors  express  themselves  in  a general  way,  and  none 
has  thought  it  worth  taking  up  the  investigation  of  the  problem  involved. 
Even  W.  Gowland,  one  of  the  best  connoisseurs  of  Japanese  antiquity, 
is  content  to  say:  “The  stones  of  which  magatama  arc  made  are  rock- 
crystal,  steatite,  jasper,  agate,  and  chalcedony,  and  more  rarely  chryso- 
prase and  nephrite.  The  last  two  minerals  are  not  found  in  Japan” 
(Gowland,  The  Dolmens  and  Burial  Mounds  in  Japan,  Archmologia, 
1897,  p.  478).  O.  Nachod  (Gcschichte  von  Japan,  Vol.  I,  p.  144, 
Gotha,  1906)  repeats  the  fact,  without  formulating  the  problem. 

But  those  engaged  in  the  archaeology  of  Japan  do  not  explain  to  us 
either  another  fact  no  less  extraordinary,  that  is  the  large  number  of 
glass  beads  in  the  dolmens.  Of  1108  beads  discovered  by  Gowland  in 
one  of  them,  there  were  791  of  glass,  all  dark -blue,  with  the  exception 
of  a few  green  or  amber  colored,  seventeen  of  silver,  a hundred  and 
twenty-three  of  baked  clay,  a hundred  and  thirty-three  of  steatite,  and 
forty-one  of  jasper.  To  any  one  acquainted  with  the  history  of  glass, 
it  must  be  clear  at  the  outset  that  the  ancient  Japanese  cannot  have 
manufactured  these  colored  glass  beads,  but  must  have  received  them 
from  an  outside  continental  source. 


351 


352  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

The  first  tangible  historical  facts  relating  to  actual  glass  manufacture 
in  Japan  refer  us  to  the  year  1570,  when  a foreign  artisan  settled  in 
Nagasaki,  and  taught  the  natives  there  how  to  blow  glass;  and  in  the 
period  Kwanyei  (1624-1643),  the  arrival  of  Chinese  artisans  at  Nagasaki 
gave  the  industry  a great  stimulus.  They  taught  the  Chinese  methods 
of  blowing  glass,  and  the  art,  spreading  throughout  the  country,  was 
practised  at  Kyoto,  Osaka,  and  Yedo  (J.  L.  Bowes,  Notes  on  Shippo, 
p.  12,  London,  1895).  Certainly,  the  mirror  of  cloisonnd  enamel 
(figured  by  Bowes  on  p.  14)  in  the  Imperial  Treasure-House  (Shosoin) 
of  Nara,  is,  despite  the  claims  to  native  workmanship  by  Japanese 
connoisseurs,  a work  of  Persian  origin,  as  plainly  shown  by  the  style 
of  the  floral  ornamentation.  We  know  that  the  Chinese  made  their 
first  acquaintance  with  glass  during  their  intercourse  with  the  Roman 
Orient  about  the  time  of  our  era,  but  that  they  did  not  learn  how  to 
make  it  before  the  fifth  century.  There  was,  no  doubt,  a lively  trade 
in  colored  glass  beads  going  on  between  the  anterior  Orient  and  the 
Far  East  during  the  first  centuries  a.  d.,  and  it  is  possible  that  they 
reached  Japan  in  this  manner.  But  it  can  hardly  be  presumed  that  the 
Jajjancse  became  acquainted  with  the  process  of  making  glass  earlier 
than  the  Chinese,  and  it  is  even  open  to  doubt  whether  glass  beads 
were  made,  as  stated  by  Bowes,  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Shomu 
(724  A.  u.).  Either  the  Japanese  glass  beads  of  early  historic  times 
have  been  imported  from  the  Roman  Orient,  and  most  probably  by  way 
of  China,  or  if  the  claim  of  indigenous  manufacture  can  be  sustained 
with  any  plausible  evidence,  these  antiquities  and  the  graves  from  which 
they  come,  cannot  be  as  old  as  they  are  supposed  to  be  by  Japanese 
archaeologists  and  their  foreign  followers.  There  would  be  many 
other  reasons  to  believe  that  the  remains  of  the  so-called  protohistoric 
age  of  Japan  cannot  go  back  to  any  great  antiquity,  but  seem  to  go 
down  as  far  as  a period  between  the  second  and  eighth  centuries;  but 
this  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  this  problem.  We  were  merely  obliged 
to  raise  this  question,  in  order  to  obtain  a correct  point  of  view  in 
estimating  the  possible  age  of  the  nephrite  magatama. 

The  nephrite  magatama,  if  they  exist,  occur  only  in  small  numbers. 
It  is  too  well  known  how  difficult  it  is,  even  for  a specialist,  to  rec- 
ognize nephrite  at  a glance,  without  experimental  investigations,  for 
unconditional  credence  to  be  apjjlied  to  the  definitions  of  laymen. 
He  who  has  studied  Fischer’s  careful  book  on  the  subject  is  aware 
of  the  numerous  disappointments  to  which  the  jjremature  labeling 
of  specimens  as  jades  in  museums  and  private  collections  has  been 
subjected.  And  what,  in  the  course  of  a century,  has  not  been  taken 


Feb.,  1912. 


J.\DE. 


353 


for  nephrite!  ‘ For  this  reason,  we  must  look  upon  the  Japanese 
nephrite  magatama  with  a certain  feeling  of  diffidence.  The  monu- 
mental work  of  Mr.  Bishop  has  paved  the  way  also  in  this  question  and 
supplies  us  ^vith  accurate  evidence  for  the  occurrence  of  jadcite  in  a 
Japanese  magatama. 

The  Bishop  collection  (Vol.  I,  p.  231),  fortunately,  contains  one 
ancient  specimen  from  Japan.  “It  is  a curv^ed  bead,  or  magatama,  of 
light  emerald-green  jadeite  with  dcad-oak-Ieaf  stainings,  pierced  for 
suspension  as  a pendant  or  as  part  of  a necklace,  where  it  is  supposed 
to  have  been  strung  with  a number  of  the  tubular  beads  called  kudaiama. 
No  jade  has  hitherto  been  found  in  situ  in  any  part  of  Japan,  so  that  all 
beads  dug  up  there  arc  presumed  to  be  of  exotic  origin.”  The  spec- 
imen in  'question  is  figured  and  described  in  the  work  of  Bishop, 
Vol.  11,  p.  1 13. 

Dr.  Bushell  (in  Bishop,  Vol.  1,  p.  47)  translates  the  following 
passage:  “The  Tu  yang  tsa  pien,  a work  of  the  end  of  the  ninth  century 
(Wylie,  Notes,  p.  1Q4)  records  that  during  the  T'ang  dynasty  the  king- 
dom of  Japan  presented  to  the  emperor  an  engraved  gobang  board 
of  warm  jade,  on  which  the  game  could  be  ])layed  in  winter  without 
getting  cold,  and  that  it  was  most  highly  prized.  Thirty  thousand  li 
east  of  Japan  is  the  island  of  Tsi-mo,  and  upon  this  island  the  Ning- 
hia  Terrace,  on  which  terrace  is  the  Gobang  Player’s  Lake.  This 
lake  produces  the  chess-men  which  need  no  carving,  and  are  naturally 
divided  into  black  and  white.  They  are  warm  in  winter,  cool  in  sum- 
mer, and  known  as  cool  and  warm  jade.  It  also  jiroduces  the  catalpa- 
jade,  in  structure  like  the  w'ood  of  the  catalpa-trce,  which  is  carved 
into  chess-boards  shining  and  brilliant  as  mirrors.”  This  account  is 
evidently  fabulous,  and  as  stated  by  Wylie,  the  work  in  question, 
chiefly  occupied  w'ith  an  account  of  rare  and  curious  objects  brought 
to  China  from  foreign  countiies  between  763  and  872  .a.  d.,  contains 
many  statements  having  the  appearance  of  being  apocryphal.  It 
may  well  be  doubted  that  real  jade  is  meant  there,  and  even  if  this  were 
the  case,  no  evidence  for  the  natural  occurrence  of  jade  in  Japan  or 
the  adjacent  i.slands  would  accrue  from  this  text. 

Mow'ever  easy  the  nephrite  problem  of  Jajjan  may  look  on  the  sur- 
face, it  is  difficult  to  decide  from  wffiat  source,  howq  and  when  the 

' In  a small  pamphlet,  “ Uebersicht  unci  Bemerkungen  zu  von  Siebold’s  Japa- 
nischem  Museum  ” (without  year  and  place),  p.  4,  also  jade  is  listed  among  the  mineral 
products  of  Japan.  Either  this  is  a case  of  mistaken  identity  or  a case  of  recent 
importation  from  China.  Mr.  Bishop  (Vol.  I,  p.  184)  remarks:  "A  small  number 

of  worked  jade  objects  have  also  come  from  japan,  but  probably  in  the  course  of 
commerce  from  China,  as  we  have  the  explicit  statement  of  Mr.  Wada  that  jade 
is  not  found  in  that  country’." 


354  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  — Anth.,  Vol.  X. 

* 

nephrite  or  jadeite  material  was  transmitted  to  Japan.  These  jewels 
may  go  back,  after  all,  to  an  early  period  when  historical  intercourse 
between  Japan  and  China  was  not  yet  established;  they  represent  two 
clearly  distinct  and  characteristic  types,  such  as  are  not  found  in  the 
jewelry  of  ancient  China.  If  the  Japanese  magatama  and  kudatama 
would  correspond  to  any  knowm  Chinese  forms,  it  would  be  possible 
to  give  a plausible  reason  for  the  presence  of  jade  in  the  ancient 
Japanese  tombs;  but  such  a coincidence  of  types  cannot  be  brought 
forward.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  similar  pieces  will  be  discovered  in  China, 
as  necklaces  were  never  used  there  either  anciently  or  in  modern  times. 
We  must  therefore  argue  that  the  two  Japanese  forms  of  ornamental 
stones  were  either  indigenous  invention  or  borrowed  from  some  other 
non-Chinese  culture  sphere  in  southeastern  Asia  the  antiquities  of 
which  are  unknown  to  us.  It  seems  plausible  to  presume  that  these 
jewels  were  first  cut  in  materials  found  on  the  soil  of  Japan,  and  later 
on  also  from  nephrite  brought  over  from  the  mainland.  But  so  far, 
all  indications  are  lacking  as  to  the  channels  through  which,  and  as 
to  the  time  when,  such  a trade  might  have  been  carried  on. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The  papers  relating  to  stone  implements  and  quoted  in  the  first  chapter,  as 
well  as  publications  which  have  but  occasionally  been  cited,  are  not  here  listed 
again.  For  the  sake  of  completeness,  also  books  and  papers  not  quoted  on  the 
preceding  pages,  but  containing  references  to  this  subject,  have  been  here  included. 
The  student  of  Jade  will  find  everything  that  is  nece.ssary  in  the  works  of  Fischer 
and  Bishop.  The  reader  seeking  general  information  may  turn  to  the  papers  of 
Easter  and  Giles,  or  look  up  the  subject  in  the  books  on  Precious.Stones  by  F.\r- 
RiNGTON,  Kunz,  and  Bauer. 

M.  Amiot,  Essai  sur  les  liierres  sonores  de  Chine.  Memoires  concernant 
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This  essay  contains  also  valuable  notes  on  Chinese  jade  in  general. 

Arzruxi,  Nephrit  von  Schahidulla-Chodja  im  Kiien-Lun  Gebirge. 

Zeilschrift  fiir  Ethnologic,  Vol.  XXIV,  1892,,  pp.  19-33. 

A.  W.  B.ahr,  Old  Chinese  Porcelain  and  Works  of  Art  in  China.  Lon- 
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Figures  a few  articles  of  Jade  on  Plates  CXIII  • — CXV\ 

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Article  “Jade,”  pp.  356-358. 

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S.  Blondel,  Le  Jade.  Etude  historique,  arch^ologiquc  et  litt^raire 
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S.  W.  Bushell,  Description  of  Chinese  Pottery  and  Porcelain,  being 

a translation  of  the  T'ao  Shuo.  Oxford,  1910. 

Contains  also  useful  references  to  Jade  vessels. 

Edouard  Chavannes,  Les  memoires  historiques  de  Se-ma  Ts'ien. 

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' Not  yet  seen. 

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A list  of  metaphorical  phrases  composed  with  the  word  “Jade”  is  given  on 
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3s8  Bibliography, 

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Les  lapidaires  chinois.  Paris,  1896. 

A.  B.  Meyer,  Jadeit-  und  Nephrit-Objekte.  A.  Amerika  und  Europa. 
B.  Asien,  Oceanien  und  Afrika.  Publikaiionen  des  Ethnographi- 
schen  Museums  Dresden.  Leipzig,  1882  and  1883. 

A.  B.  Meyer,  Die  Nephritfrage  kein  ethnologisches  Problem.  Berlin, 
1883.  English  translation:  The  Nephrite  Question  in  American 

Anthropologist,  Vol.  I,  1888,  pp.  231-242. 

A.  B.  Meyer,  Ncue  Mittcilungen  tiber  Nephrit.  Globus,  Vol.  LXXXVI, 
1904,  pp.  53-55. 

M.  PALfeoLOGUE,  L’art  chinois.  Paris,  1887. 

Les  pierres  dures,  pp.  155-177- 

P.  CoRENTiN  Petillon,  Allusions  litteraires.  2 vols.,  Shanghai,  1895, 

1898.  Varieles  sinologiques.  Nos.  8,  13. 

On  Jade  see  in  particular  pp.  234-250. 

M.  Abel-Remusat,  Histoire  de  la  ville  de  Khotan,  suivie  de  recherches 
sur  la  substance  minerale  ap]3clee  par  les  Chinois  pierre  de  lu,  et 
sur  le  Jaspe  des  anciens.  Paris,  1820. 

Baron  Richthofen’s  Letters,  1870-1872.  Shanghai  (no  date). 

A few  remarks  on  the  Jadeite  of  Yun-nan,  p.  138. 

£.mile  Rocher,  La  province  chinoise  du  Yun-nan.  Paris,  1880. 
Brief  note  on  the  Jadeite  of  Yun-nan.  Vol.  II,  p.  260. 

F.  W.  Rudler,  On  the  Source  of  the  Jade  used  for  Ancient  Implements 
in  Europe  and  America.  Journal  of  the  R.  Anthropological  Insti- 
tute, Vol.  XX,  1890,  pp.  332-342. 

L.  SciiERMAN,  Bcrichte  des  Kgl.  Ethnographischen  Museums  in  Mun- 

chen  1 (1908).  Miinchen,  1909. 

P.  81.  Collection  of  171  Chinese  stone  carvings  acquired  by  King  Ludwig 
I of  Bavaria,  si.xty-five  years  ago.  Figures  of  a jade  ring  engraved  with  two 
dragons  and  four  bats,  and  of  a beautiful  carving  of  malachite  representing 
Bodhidharma. 

G.  ScHLEGEL,  Uranographie  chinoise.  2 vols.  and  atlas.  Leiden, 

1875- 

J.  D.  E.  ScH.\iELTz,  Ethnographische  Musea  in  Midden-Europa. 
Leiden,  1896. 

Figures  of  two  Ju-i  and  some  remarks  on  these  implements,  p.  30. 

11.  Graf  von  Schweinitz,  Orientalische  Wanderungen  in  Turkestan 

und  im  nordostlichen  Persien.  Berlin,  1910. 

Illustration  of  the  famous  nephrite  sarcophagus  of  Timur  in  the  Gur-Emir 
of  Samarkand,  p.  99. 

J.  G.  Scott  and  Hardiman,  Gazetteer  of  Upper  Burma  and  the  Shan 

States.  Part  I,  Vol.  II,  Rangoon,  1900. 

On  the  Jade  Mines  of  Burma,  pp.  277-289. 


Bibliography. 


359 


F.  Porter  Smith,  Contributions  towards  the  Materia  Medica  and 

Natural  History  of  China.  Shanghai,  1871. 

Brief  note  on  Jade,  p.  124. 

J.  L.  SouBEiRAN  et  Dabry  de  Thiersant,  La  mati^re  mddicale  chez 

les  Chinois.  Paris,  1874. 

Brief  note  on  Jade,  p.  36. 

Yagi  Sozaburo,  Koko  Benran  (in  Japanese).  Tokj'o,  1902. 

On  Chinese  Jade,  pp.  149-158. 

M.  Aurel  Stein,  Sand-Buried  Ruins  of  Khotan.  London,  1904. 

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A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Ou.  Shanghai,  1876.  Varietes 
sinologiqiies,  No.  10. 

A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Tch'ou.  Shanghai,  1903.  Varie- 
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A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Tsin.  Shanghai,  1910.  Varietes 
sinologiques,  No.  30. 

A.  Tschepe,  Histoire  du  royaume  de  Han.  Shanghai,  1910.  Varietes 
sinologiques,  No.  31. 

Ch.  E.  de  Ujfalvy,  Expedition  scientifique  frangaise  en  Russie, 
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CATALOGUES 

No  completeness  has  been  attempted  here.  It  is  impossible. to  secure  all  auction 
catalogues. 

The  Art  Institute  of  Chicago.  General  Catalogue  of  Sculpture, 

Paintings  and  Other  Objects.  Chicago,  1910.  * 

Note  on  Jade,  pp.  141-142. 


360  Bibliography. 

The  Heber  R.  Bishop  Collection  of  Jade  and  Other  Hard  Stones. 

The  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  Handbook  No.  10.  (No  date.) 
T.  Brin’CK.mann,  Fiihrer  durch  das  Hamburgische  Museum  fiir  Kunst 

und  Gevverbe.  Hamburg,  1894. 

Brief  description  of  two  small  Chinese  cups  of  green  nephrite,  p.  589. 
Catalogue  De  Luxe  of  the  Art  Treasures  collected  by  Thomas  E. 
Wagga.\ian.  New  York,  1905. 

Carved  Jade,  Nos.  489-550  (the  pages  are  not  numbered).  One  of  the 
curiosities  of  this  catalogue  is  No.  490  “Maori  Jade  Ring,  dated  K'ien-lung 
period.” 

Catalogue  of  Collection  of  A.  D.  Vorce.  New  York,  1905. 

Jades  and  Agates,  Nos.  48-99. 

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chase Exposition,  St.  Louis,  1904,  pp.  129,  130. 

B.  Hirschsprungs  Samling.  Copenhague,  1911. 

Jade,  p.  61. 

Port  Catalogues  of  the  Chinese  Customs’  Collection  at  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Universal  Exhibition,  Yienna,  1873.  Shanghai,  1873, 
pp.  18,  426. 

The  Auguste  F.  Cha.mot  Collection.  New  Yoik,  1907. 

Jades  Nos.  1-70  (Interesting). 

E.  Deshayes,  Petit  guide  illustrd  au  Musee  d’Ennery,  Paris,  1908. 

Jade,  pp.  46-47.  Figure  of  winged  lion  of  jade,  p.  28. 

Fuhrer  durch  das  Museum  ftir  Volkcrkunde,  14th  ed.  Berlin,  1908. 

Chinese  Jades,  pp.  249-250.  Interesting  because  of  dated  pieces  of  the 
K'ien-lung  period. 

Yamanaka  and  Co.,  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  Antique  and  Modern 

Chinese  and  Japanese  Objects  of  Art.  New  York,  1905. 

Jades,  pp.  29-38,  I plate. 


INDEX 


Aalst,  J.  A.  V.,  327. 

Acupuncture,  stone  needles  for,  66,  67. 

Agaric,  209. 

Agate,  ring  of,  167;  paper-weight  of,  332; 
tree  of,  from  Tol^arestan,  334;  fruits 
and  petals  of  ftrjwcr,  carved  from,  335. 

Agriculture,  differentiated  from  hoe- 
culture,  48-49. 

Ainu,  grooved  stone  hammer  of,  51,  52. 

Alchemy,  notions  regarding  jade  con- 
nected with,  296. 

Amber,  Ju-i  of,  335,  336. 

America  and  Asia,  historical  relations 
between,  52. 

Amiot,  on  jade  of  Shensi  and  Shansi,  26; 
on  resonant  stones,  327. 

Amulets,  jade  celts  worn  as,  45:  of  jade, 
for  the  proteetion  of  the  dead,  294- 

305- 

Anderson,  J..  on  stone  implements  of 
Yiin-nan,  30-32. 

Anderson,  W.,  338,  343. 

Andree,  R.,  65,  69. 

Annam,  jade  of,  24. 

Antelope,  design  of,  on  jade  buckle,  268. 

Anthropomorphic  conceptions  in  ancient 
Chinese  religion,  12 1,  174-185. 

Aquatic  plants,  design  of,  on  girdle- 
pendant,  238,  249. 

Archaeology,  Chinese,  methods  of,  15, 
17,  22. 

Archer’s  thumb-ring,  2831-284. 

Arrow-heads,  of  stone,  in  Hui-wu,  25; 
of  flint,  found  in  IVIongolia,  34:  of 
jade,  34:  in  Liao-tung,  35,  58:  of  stone, 
mentioned  in  Shu  king,  55;  of  the  Su- 
sh6n,  57-59,  68;  in  Korea,  59:  in 
Kiang-si,  59:  in  Sze-ch'uan,  6o;  fig- 
ured and  described  in  Kin-shih  so, 
60-62. 

Aston,  W.,  59,  351. 

Astronomical  instruments,  of  jade,  104- 
107,  1 12. 

Autumn,  symbolized  by  the  tiger,  175. 

Axe,  of  stone,  found  in  mound  near  Kal- 
gan,  32-34:  emblem  of  sovereign,  45: 
stone  axes  mentioned  in  Chinese  rec- 
ords, 60,  63:  ceremonial  jade  axes, 

41-43- 

Baber,  E.  C.,  on  stone  implements  of 
Sze-ch'uan,  32;  on  phallicism,  99:  on 
Ngo-mei  shan,  343. 


Back-scratcher,  254-255. 

Badges  of  rank,  84-88,  164,  330. 

Balas  ruby,  109. 

Ball,  V.,  76. 

Bamboo  pattern,  251,  255,  333. 

Bamboo  tablets,  discovered  in  grave, 
2i;as  writing-material,  114,  115,  117. 

Banana  leaves,  design  of,  on  jade  orna- 
ment, 206. 

Band-ornaments,  on  jade  disk,  163; 
realistic  meaning  of,  in  connection 
with  dragon,  164. 

Bats,  symbol  of  happiness,  existence  of 
design  of  in  Han  period  doubtful,  168; 
on  court-girdle  of  the  T'ang  dynasty, 
287,  289;  on  modern  specimens,  329, 
330.  334- 

Bauer,  M.,  1 1 1,  155. 

Biot,  E.,  translator  of  Chou  li,  15;  on 
south-pointing  chariot,  113. 

Bird,  head  on  jade  disk,  160;  in  con- 
nection with  dragon,  symbol  of  clouds, 
162,  164,  168,  226,  236-239. 

Bird-cage,  of  jade,  from  Turkistan,  292. 

Bishop,  H.  R.,  collection  of  and  work  on 
jade,  6-8;  on  localities  of  jade  in 
China,  23,  24;  on  discoloration  and 
decomposition  of  jade,  27;  celts  of, 
34;  jade  book  of,  118;  alleged  jade 
wheel-nave  of,  123:  kuei  pi  of,  168; 
correct  explanation  for  jade  horse  of, 
247;  on  the  action  of  fire  on  jade,  322; 
Palace  jade  pieces  of,  324;  Han  neph- 
rite gong  of,  328:  jade  mountain  of, 
331 : Ju-i  of,  335;  on  jadeite  magatama 
of  Japan,  353. 

Black  jade,  25,  37,  60,  96,  99,  120,  130,. 
131,  137,  245. 

Blood-stone,  39. 

Blue  jade,  120,  229,  292. 

Boar’s  tooth,  203,  254. 

Bodding,  P.  O.,  77. 

Bodmer-Beder,  A.,  investigations  of 
jades  of  Switzerland  of,  3. 

Bogoras,  W.,  52. 

Books,  composed  of  jade  slabs,  1 1 8. 

Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  202. 

Bowes,  J.  L.,  352. 

Bowlders,  of  jade,  26. 

Boxes  of  jade,  buried  with  corpse  to- 
preserve  its  flesh,  21,  299. 

Brass,  girdles  of,  286. 

Brockhaus,  A.,  222,  243. 


Index. 


362 

Bronze,  chisel  of,  corresponding  to  jade 
type,  39:  hatchets  of,  44,  74,  75: 
thunder-bolts  of,  65;  spade-shaped 
coin  of,  74:  plate  of,  in  grave  of  Pi 
Kan,  loo;  tallies  of,  in  shape  of  tiger, 
102,  174,  184:  wheel-naves  of,  127- 
128;  two-edged  sword  of,  184;  tablet 
of,  inscribed,  offered  to  dragon,  188; 
technique  of,  in  relation  to  that  of 
jade,  323. 

Brown,  T.  C.,  on  stone  implements  of 
Yun-nan,  32. 

Buckles,  of  jade,  262-273. 

Buddhist  art,  type  of  dragon  peculiar 
to,  269:  jade  in,  341-350. 

Burial,  mode  of,  in  the  Chou  period,  120, 
138. 

Bushell,  S.  W.,  contributions  to  Bishop’s 
work  on  jade,  7:  on  jade  celts,  34-35, 
44;  on  south-pointing  chariot,  113; 
on  jade  tablet  of  the  Emperor  Kao- 
tsu,  1 17:  on  alleged  jade  wheel-nave, 
123,  129;  on  kuei  pi,  i68;  theory  of 
t'ao-t'ieh,  184;  on  jade  horse,  247;  on 
thumb-ring,  283:  erroneous  views  of 
"tomb  jades,”  294,  295;  erroneous 
theory  of  Ju-i,  337. 

Butterfly,  jade  carving  of,  as  mortuary' 
offering,  310-31 1. 

Buttons,  of  jade,  249,  250. 

Calabash,  phallic  symbol,  330,  334’ 

Cameo  style,  in  jade  carving,  322,  323. 

Campbell,  A.,  77. 

Carp,  jade  emblem  found  in  belly  of,  171. 

Carriages,  imperial,  of  the  Chou  period, 
126. 

Carus,  P.,  219,  303. 

Caskets,  of  jade,  buried  with  corpse  in 
the  Han  period,  21,  299. 

Cat’s-eye,  in. 

Chains,  carved  out  of  jade,  204,  329. 

chang,  imperial  emblems  of  jade,  100- 
102;  jade  emblem  of  the  South,  120, 
172. 

Chang  Chu-pien,  25. 

Chang  Hua,  64. 

Chang  Pang-ki,  99. 

Chang  Se-kung,  painter,  338. 

Chang  S6ng-yu,  painter,  dragon-head 
in  the  style  of,  268-270;  picture  of 
Samantabhadra’s  elephant,  343. 

Ch'ang  K'u,  author  of  Hua  yang  kuo  chi, 
60. 

Chao,  king  of  Ch'u,  opening  of  tomb  of, 
21. 

Chao  Meng-fu,  painter,  246,  313. 

Chao  Po-ang,  246. 

chao  wen  lai,  jade  girdle-clasp,  258,  259. 

Ch'ao-yin,  cave  on  P'u-t'o  shan,  348. 

Chariot,  south-pointing,  T12-113. 


Chatelaine,  of  Chou  period,  197-202, 
205-208;  of  Turkistan,  204;  the  latter 
type  in  tombs  near  Kasan,  206. 

Chavannes,  E.,  on  jade  of  the  Caliphs, 
25;  on  pi-liu-li,  in;  on  jade  tablets 
used  in  the  sacrifices  on  the  T'ai-shan, 
116,  117;  on  the  God  of  the  Soil,  145; 
on  fish-purses,  221;  on  the  painter  Li 
Kung-lin,  252;  on  the  painter  Ku  K'ai- 
chih.  282. 

chen  kuei,  imperial  symbol  of  power,  81; 
wrongly  conceived  as  being  decorated 
with  designs  of  mountains,  82;  in 
reality  a jade  implement  of  the  shape 
of  a hammer,  87-90. 

Cheng  K'ang-ch'eng,  loi,  108,  133,  154, 
250. 

ChSng  Se-nung,  loi,  252. 

Cheng  Tung,  302. 

Ch'en  Tsang-k'i,  63,  72. 

Ch'en  Yuan-lung,  15. 

Ciiessboard,  of  jade,  353  (compare  with 
this  passage  Bushell,  Description  of 
Chinese  Pottery,  p.  161). 

Chevreul,  69. 

chi  sin  p'ei,  234,  238,  243. 

Chickenbone-white,  37,  300.  ' 

Chicken-heart  girdle-ornament,  234,  238, 
243- 

Chouli,  15,  16,  80-87,  120,  121,  126,  135, 
136,  1,39.  159.  167,  169,  174,  178,  186, 
249,  251,  252,  296,  297,  318. 

Chou  period,  jade  implements  of,  35“4o; 
chief  characteristics  of,  in  opposition 
to  Han  period,  232-233. 

Ch'o  king  lu,  63. 

Chu  Teh-jun,  8. 

Chuang-tse,  on  half-ring,  21 1;  story  of 
mantis  and  cicada  illustrated  in  the 
art  of  the  Han,  265. 

Chukchi,  grooved  stone  hammer  of,  51. 

chung  chang,  102. 

chung  k'uei  shou,  89. 

Ch'u,  language  of,  183;  poetic  and  ar- 
tistic spirit  of,  183. 

ch'ung  ya,  197,  198,  206,  208. 

Cicada,  design  of,  carved  as  girdle-pend- 
ant, 226,  227;  carved  on  jade  buckle, 
264-265;  carved  as  tongue-amulet, 
symbol  of  resurrection,  299-301. 

Cicada  pattern,  43. 

Clasps,  of  jade,  256-261. 

Clayish  substances,  embedded  in  ancient 
jades,  27,  167,  el  passim. 

Cloud-pattern,  brought  out  in  shape  of 
jade  dance-axe,  41;  on  girdle  orna- 
ments, 227,  238,  240;  of  phallic  .signifi- 
cance, 234;  on  back-scratcher,  255; 
on  resonant  stone,  329. 

Coats-of-rhail,  made  of  stone  and  jade 
scales,  60. 

Coins,  relation  of,  in  form,  to  jade  disks, 
155;  of  jade,  190-193- 


Index. 


Colarians,  migrations  of,  77,  78. 

Color-sense,  with  reference  to  utiliza- 
tion of  natural  colors  in  stone,  242, 
248,  319,  321,  322,  334,  335. 

Color-symbolism,  120,  149. 

Colors  of  jade,  assigned  according  to 
rank,  88,  196,  286,  287. 

Coltelli,  F.  C.,  discoverer  of  stone  mat- 
tock in  Shensi,  34. 

Confucius,  on  the  flint  arrow-heads  of 
the  Su-sh6n,  57;  on  Heaven  and 
Earth,  148. 

Conrady,  A.,  on  the  symbolism  of  girdle- 
ornaments,  199,  210,  21 1. 

Copper,  girdles  of,  286. 

Coral,  white,  66;  red,  in  imperial  girdle, 
293;  branches  of  jade  trees  carved 
from,  334;  petals  of  flowers  carved 
from,  335. 

Couling,  S.,  discoverer  of  stone  imple- 
ments in  Shantung,  46. 

Court-girdles,  of  jade,  286-293. 

Cow  and  calf,  jade  carving  of,  242. 

Crane,  209.  33b,  331. 

Crow,  sun-bird,  on  jade  emblem,  168. 

Cuspidors,  of  jade,  21. 

Dance-axes,  of  jade,  41-43. 

Dances,  41,  57,  79- 

David,  A.,  discoverer  of  two  flint  arrow- 
heads in  Mongolia,  34. 

Deer,  carved  in  jade,  330,  331,  332. 

Deniker,  J.,  34,  78. 

Devdria,  G.,  24,  25,  26,  336,  339. 

Dipper,  on  jade  emblem,  167;  on  jade 
coin,  190. 

Discoloration  of  jade,  26,  27,  202,  322. 

Disks,  of  jade,  86,  154-167,  302,  330. 

Dorsey,  G.  A.,  327. 

Drab-colored  jade,  140. 

Dragon,  symbol  of  clouds,  rain,  and 
thunder,  162-164,  227,  230,  237,  329; 
jade  images  of,  in  prayers  for  rain, 
186-189:  girdle-pendants  in  shape  of, 
235-237,  239;  on  jade  buckles,  268- 
271 : in  the  style  of  the  painter  Chang 
S6ng-yu,  268-270. 

Drake  and  duck,  jade  carving  of,  243. 

Dussaud,  R.,  5. 


Earrings,  of  jade,  253-254. 

Earth,  deity,  jade  images  and  symbols 
of,  1 22-1 53:  religious  significance  of, 
144-151. 

East,  deity,  jade  image  of,  120,  172. 

Edkins,  J.,  criticism  of  Chou  li,  16;  on 
stone  hatchet  from  Kalgan,  32-33; 
135,  148,  190,  233,  235,  336,  343,  348. 

Elephant,  jade  carving  of,  242;  heads, 
234,  304:  on  resonant  stone,  330;  of 
Samantabhadra,  343-346,  349-350. 


363 

Emerald,  155  (compare  O.  Schneider, 
Der  agyptische  Smaragd,  Zeitschrift 
fiir  Elhnologie,  Vol.  XXIV,  1892, 
pp.  41-100). 

Emotions,  development  of,  in  art  of  Han 
period,  233,  235,  248. 

Emperor,  emblems  of,  80-84,  87-102, 

1 16. 

Empress,  emblems/)f,  131,  137. 

Erh  yn,  256. 

Erh  ya  shih  whi,  166. 

Eye-amulets,  302,  303. 

False  hair,  known  in  ancient  China,  253. 

Fang-shih  mo  p'u,  66,  67,  227,  343,  345, 
346. 

/eng,  phenix,  Argus  pheasant,  221. 

Fertility,  symbols  of,  330,  334,  335. 

Feudal  princes,  jade  insignia  of,  84-87. 

Fire,  effect  of,  upon  jade,  322. 

Fischer,  H.,  theory  regarding  distribu- 
tion of  jade,  I ; on  stone  implements 
of  China.  29-30;  on  stone  hatchet  of 
Siberia,  58. 

Fish,  jade  emblem  huang  in  shape  of, 
169-172;  double,  carved  as  girdle- 
pendant,  218-219:  as  symbol  of  power 
and  rank,  2 19-221;  single,  carved  as 
girdle-pendant,  226,  227;  invoked  for 
rain,  309;  meaning  of,  in  rebus,  329, 
330- 

Fishes,  engraved  on  eye  and  lip-amulets, 
303,  30.).;  carvings  of,  in  the  grave, 
309- 

Fishbone  jars,  1 15. 

Fish  purses,  220,  221. 

Flower  design,  on  scabbard  ornament 
of  Han  period,  280. 

Flutes,  of>  jade,  332,  333. 

Footgear,  of  jade,  21. 

Forbes,  F.  S.,  76. 

Forke,  A.,  66,  146,  301. 

Foucher,  A.,  338,  343. 

Fowke,  G.,  52. 

Franke,  O.,  303. 

Frog,  on  bronze  wheel-nave,  128;  jade 
carvings  of,  307. 

Fruit-dishes,  of  jade,  323. 

Fung  su  I'ung,  182. 

Fungus  of  immortality,  209-210,  322, 
331.  332,  335.  337- 

Gagate,  25. 

Gaillard,  L.,  287. 

Garoo-wood,  251. 

Geomefric  symbolism,  of  the  Chou 
period,  18,  83-102,  105,  114,  120,  121, 
122,  131-143.  149-151.  154.  169,  172: 
in  girdle-ornaments,  232. 

Giglioli,  E.  H.,  on  stone  mattock  of 
- Shensi,  34,  47:  70. 


Index. 


364 

Giles,  H.  A.,  100,  267,  343,  345;  on  Ju-i, 
336,  339- 

Girdle-pendants,  194-248. 

Glass  beads,  of  Japanese  tombs,  351- 

352. 

Glass,  history  of,  in  China,  111-112. 
Glyptic  art,  high  quality  of,  194,  233, 

330. 

Goats,  jade  carving  of,  242. 

Gold,  scabbard  ornament  of,  278;  girdles 
of,  286. 

Goose,  carved  in  jade  girdle-ornament, 
332- 

Gowland,  \V.,  351. 

“Grain,”  or  "millet”  pattern,  17,  83, 
84,  86,  96,  97,  158,  164,  168,  260,  331. 
Green,  symbolic  of  the  spring  and  of 
growing  vegetation,  172. 

Grenard,  F.,  etymology  of  the  word 
jade  by,  22. 

De  Groot,  J.  J.  M.,  46,  82,  83,  89,  102, 
137.  155.  188,  296,  299,  302,  312. 
Grooved  Axe,  from  Shantung,  50;  from 
India,  51;  of  Ainu,  51;  of  Chukchi, 
52;  in  North  America,  52. 

Grosier,  69. 

Grosse,  E.,  271. 

Grube,  W.,  144,  176,  206,  209,  310,  329. 
Griinwedel,  A.,  on  spade-shaped  celts, 

76:  338,  346. 

Gypsum,  inlaid  in  pottery,  115. 


Haddon,  A.  C.,  271. 

Du  Halde,  26. 

Hamy,  E.  T.,  on  flint  arrow-heads  of 
Mongolia,  34. 

Ilan  jade,  26,  27,  294-295;  thumb-rings 
of,  284;  flower  vases  of,  322;  bell  of, 
328. 

Han  period,  fundamental  contrast  of 
ideas  of,  with  Chou  period,  232- 
233:  jade  clasps  originating  in,  258; 
jade  amulets  of  the  dead  of,  299-305; 
objects  used  in  dressing  the  corpse  of, 
306;  jade  carvings  of,  309-313. 

Han  shih  wai  chuan,  267. 

Han  VVu  ku  shih,  334. 

Han  Ying,  267. 

hantahan,  elk,  284  (Manchu  kandahan). 

Hare,  pounding  drugs,  lunar  symbol,  on 
jade  emblem,  168. 

Hat-pin,  of  jade,  251. 

Hatchet,  design  of,  on  girdle-pendant, 
225,  227. 

Headgear,  ornaments  for,  249-255. 

Heaven,  deity,  in  relation  to  Earth,  144- 
148;  jade  images  and  symbols  of,  154- 
168;  temple  of,  157. 

hing,  head-piece  of  girdle-pendant,  199, 
200. 


hiang  ts'ao,  fragrant  herb,  design  on 
girdle-pendants,  222,  223. 

Hien-fSng,  the  Emperor,  Ju-i  presented 
to,  335- 

Htng-ngan  fu  chi,  268. 

Hirt,  H.,  5. 

Hirth,  F.,  on  ancient  history  of  Shan- 
tung, 54;  on  Lei-chou,  64;  on  ancient 
culture  periods,  70-71;  on  Hainan, 
72;  on  glass,  112;  on  south-pointing 
chariot,  113;  on  nipples  of  metal  mir- 
rors, 168;  theory  of  t'ao-t'ieh,  185. 

Hodge,  F.  W.,  2. 

Hoe-culture  in  Eastern  Asia,  48. 

Hoernes,  M.,  69. 

Hokusai,  345. 

Hopkins,  L.  C.,  73,  191. 

Horse,  jade  carvings  of,  241,  244-247; 
sculptured  after  life,  245;  carved  on 
jade  buckles,  262-264,  272. 

Hou  Han  shu,  59. 

hu,  jade  w’ri ting- tablets,  114. 

hu,  jade  images  of  tiger,  174. 

Hu  Tsung,  337. 

Hua  yang  kuo  chi,  60. 

huan  kuei,  84,  85. 

Huan  yii  ki,  25,  68. 

huang,  jade  image  of  the  North,  169-172. 

huang,  phenix,  peacock,  221. 

Huang  ch'ao  li  k'i  t'u  shih,  150.  151,  157, 
172,  182. 

huang  mu,  “yellow  eye,”  epithet  of  the 
monster  t'ao-t'ieh,  43,  315. 

Huang  Shdng,  8. 

Huang-ti,  painting  of,  by  Li  Kung-lin, 
252. 

huang  ts'ung,  132-136. 

Hui-tsung,  the  Emperor,  jade  seal  of, 
247- 

Human  figure,  of  jade,  31 1. 

Hung  shui  pa,  river,  jade  of,  25. 

Huth,  G.,  344. 

Hydra,  on  jade  disk,  164-166;  on  jade 
girdle-pendants,  222-231,  236,  240; 
symbol  of  marital  love  and  resur- 
rection, 235;  watching  its  young  one, 
260,  276,  332,  333;  on  jade  buckles, 
268,  269,  272;  symbol  of  attack  and 
defence  on  jade  sword-guard,  276;  on 
scabbard  ornament,  279,  281;  on  res- 
onant stone,  330. 


I-lou,  ancient  tribe  of  Korea,  59. 

/ yii,  1 07-1 10. 

Idealism,  in  art  of  Han  period,  235,  248. 
lijima,  51. 

Illustrations,  Chinese,  to  the  Rituals, 
reconstructive  inventions,  16;  based 
on  misinterpretations  of  ancient  texts, 
17;  to  be  utilized  only  on  critical  ex- 
amination, 12,  18. 


Index. 


Immortality,  ideas  concerning,  235,  296- 
305;  leading  to  idealistic  conceptions 
of  art  in  the  Han  period,  235,  248; 
prompted  by  taking  jade  as  food,  296, 
297. 

Incense-burner,  of  jade,  321. 

India,  nephrite  bowl  of,  324. 

Individualism,  springing  up  in  Han 
period,  233. 

Inscriptions,  doubtful  on  ancient  jades, 
10,  168;  invented,  in  Ku  yii  I'u  p'u, 
10-12;  on  jade  celts,  30,  34,  35:  on 
stone  arrow-heads,  60-62;  added  on 
antiquities  in  the  K'icn-lung  period, 
62. 

Iris  design,  126. 

Iron,  mattock  of,  48;  hammer  of,  50; 
mentioned  as  tribute  in  Shu  king,  55, 
56;  Su-shdn  ignorant  of,  59;  thunder 
hatchets  of,  65,  note  i ; hook  of,  for 
cutting  mulberry  leaves,  66;  later 
substitute  for  stone  in  acupuncture 
needles,  67;  hoes  of,  in  Assam,  77; 
swords  of  Han  period,  276;  girdles  of, 
286;  Ju-i  of,  335,  336,  339. 

Ivory,  as  writing-material,  114,  115; 
back-scratcher  of,  253;  thumb-ring  of, 
284;  leaves  carved  from,  334. 

Japan,  old  copper  coins  of,  with  round 
hole,  192;  nctsuke  of,  243;  nephrite 
question  of,  35* -354- 

Jet,  25,  66. 

Ju-i,  so-called  sceptre  of  good  luck,  on 
jade  image  of  dragon,  187;  name  of  a 
cloud  design  on  jade  rings,  211,  212; 
general  discussion  of,  335-339. 

Julien,  St.,  69,  in. 

Kansu,  jade  of,  25. 

Kan-su  t'ung  chi,  25. 

K'ang-hi,  the  Emperor,  on  stone  imple- 
ments, 68. 

Kao  Ch'ai,  225. 

Kao  Sing,  grave  of,  278,  281. 

Kao-tsu,  regulations  of,  regarding  gird- 
les, 286. 

Kao-tsung,  the  Emperor,  collection  of 
jades  of,  9. 

K'ao  ku  t'u,  8,  174,  182,  281,  284;  illus- 
tration of  King  Wu  from,  285. 

Kashgar,  jade  of,  24. 

Khotan,  jade  of,  24,  203;  jade  bowlder 
from,  26;  girdle  as  tribute  from,  291, 
292;  trade  of,  in  jade  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  324. 

Kia  Kung-yen,  302. 

Kiang  Ch'un,  9. 

kiao-ch'ih,  kind  of  dragon,  227. 

k'i,  jade  button,  249.  250. 


365 

K'ien-lung  period,  archaeological  condi- 
tions in,  62;  characteristics  of,  325- 
326. 

Kin  shih,  331. 

Kin-shih  so,  bronze  hatchets  of,  .^4;  stone 
arrow-heads  of,  60-62;  spade-shaped 
coins  of,  74;  on  swords,  274. 

Kin  ling  ts'ien  lu,  191. 

K'ien  Shan,  21. 

Knives  and  swords,  of  stone,  68. 

Knots,  jade  implements  to  loosen,  238- 
242. 

Ko  chih  king  yuan,  15,  267. 

Ko  Hung,  299. 

Ko  ku  yao  Inn,  15. 

Kroeber,  A.  L.,  on  back-scratcher  of 
Eskimo,  255. 

Ku  K'ai-chih,  painter,  282;  picture  of 
Wu,  kine  of  Ch'u,  by,  285. 

Ku  kin  chu,  286. 

Ku  lieh  nit  chuan,  work  illustrated  by 
Ku  K'ai-chih,  282. 

Ku  Ying-t'ai,  15. 

Ku  yii  t'u,  8,  1 13,  245,  246,  253,  254,  256, 
260,  262,  278,  281,  312. 

Ku  yu  t'u  k'ao,  best  modern  work  on 
archaeology  of  jade,  12-13;  see  Wu 
Ta-ch'Sng. 

Ku  yii  t'u  P'u,  history  and  criticism  of, 
8-12;  pictorial  character  of  illustra- 
tions of,  12,  272-273;  jade  axes  of,  41- 
43;  in  ceremonial  objects,  attempts  at 
reconstructing  the  material  of  the  San 
li  t'u,  81;  south-pointing  chariot  of, 
1 13;  alleged  jade  wheel-naves  of,  125- 
1 29 ; wrong  representations  of  symbols 
of  nature-deities  in,  144;  alleged  huang 
of,  172;  jade  carvings  of  tigers  of,  177- 
181 ; girdle-pendants  of,  1 97-231 ; hat- 
pins of,  251;  jade  clasps  of,  256-257, 
261;  jade  buckles  of,  264-273;  court- 
girdles  of,  286-293;  jade  vase  of,  319; 
jade  carvings  of  Buddhist  pictures  of, 

341-348- 

kuan,  a fish,  symbolism  of,  227,  228. 

kuan,  head-dress,  251. 

Kuan-tse,  on  ancient  culture-periods, 
70;  on  appreciation  of  valuables,  190. 

Kuang  ya,  115. 

Kuang  yun,  1 15. 

kii,  girdle-ornament,  199. 

kuei,  pointed  jade  emblem,  buried  with 
the  sovereign  in  the  Han  period,  83; 
represented  on  a Han  bas-relief,  97; 
various  forms  of,  98-100;  in  funeral 
rites,  298. 

kuei  pi,  jade  emblem  used  in  sacrificing 
to  Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars,  167,  168. 

k'uei  lung,  coiled  dragon,  222,  224,  227, 

234- 

kung  kuei,  85,  86. 


Index. 


366 

Kunz,  G.  F.,  biography  of  Bishop  by,  6; 
editor  of,  and  contributor  to  Bishop’s 
work,  7. 

Kuo  P'o,  67. 

Kuo  shift  pu,  66. 

K'u-yuan,  21 1. 

Lacouperie,  T.  de,  on  spade-shaped  celt, 
74- 

Lan-t'ien,  jade  of,  24,  274. 

Landscapes,  carved  out  of  jade,  331; 
engraved  in  jade  slabs,  332. 

Lapis-lazuli,  1 1 1 ; in  imperial  girdle,  293. 

Lei-chou,  64. 

Leu  king  t'u,  241,  249. 

leu  Isung,  120. 

Li,  tribe  of  Hainan,  72. 

Li  Chao,  66. 

Li  ki,  15,  26,  42,  82,  1 14,  1 15,  126,  169, 
174,  186,  194,  195,  209,  240,  249,  284, 
297.  298,  315. 

Li  Kung-lin,  painter,  sketch  of  head- 
dress by,  251-252. 

Li-sao,  2 1 1 (also  Legge’s  translation  in 
Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1895, 
pp.  839-864,  should  have  been  quot- 
ed). 

Li  Shih-ch^n,  15;  recognizes  fourteen 
varieties  of  jade,  22;  on  stone  imple- 
ments, 63-68:  on  jade  disks,  154. 

Li  Shih-ch'iian,  on  the  manufacture  of 
jade,  7. 

Li-tai  hua  shih  hui  chuan,  246. 

Hang  kuei  yu  ti,  139. 

Life’s  motion,  term  of  pictorial  art,  21 1, 
230,  245,  251,  271. 

Itng  chih,  209,  210,  322,  331,  332,  335, 
337- 

Ling  piao  lu,  66. 

Lion,  jade  carving  of,  247. 

Little,  A.  J.,  343. 

liu-li,  no,  1 12. 

Liu  Xgan,  jade  axes  found  in  tomb  of, 
41;  on  Heaven  and  Earth,  137. 

Liu  Siin,  66. 

Lo  Shi,  25,  68. 

Longevity  mountain,  jade  carving  of, 
331- 

Loveplay  of  animals,  symbolic  of  mari- 
tal union  and  resurrection,  229-235. 

Love-tokens,  222,  235,  248,  332. 

Lu-jung,  river,  jade  of,  24. 

luan,  221. 

Lubbock,  J.,  69. 

Lung  Ta-yuan,  9. 

Lu  Ta-lin,  8,  174. 

Lu  Pu-wei,  21. 

Ma  Lin,  painter,  338. 

De  Mailla,  113. 

Mallows,  design  of,  on  jade  ornament, 
206. 

Man,  48,  79. 


Manchu  document,  carved  in  jade,  118. 

Mandarin-ducks,  jade  carving  of,  243. 

Mantis,  catching  the  cicada,  design  of, 
on  jade  buckle,  264-265:  Chinese 
illustration  of,  266. 

mao  kuei,  84. 

mao-tsing,  cat’s-eye,  iii. 

Marble,  22:  symbols  of  Earth,  made  of, 
140:  tongue-amulets  of,  300:  of  Ta-li 
fu,  321. 

Mare  and  foal,  jade  carving  of,  244. 

Mason,  O.  T.,  53. 

Mat  impression,  decorative  motive  on 
jade  disk,  17,  158,  159. 

Mattock  of  stone,  34,  47:  employed  in 
hoe-culture,  49:  mentioned  in  Pin 
ts'ao  kang  mu,  68. 

Mehlis,  C.,  3. 

M^ly,  F.  de,  65,  321. 

Ming  ki  pi  Van,  65. 

Mercury,  ancient  jade  supposed  to  be 
saturated  with,  27,  97,  130. 

Merdacas,  318. 

Meyer,  A.  B.,  on  nephrite  question,  2. 

mien,  ceremonial  cap,  249. 

“Millet”  pattern,  see  “grain”  pattern. 

Ming  i pieh  lu,  24. 

ming  yii,  25. 

Mirrors,  of  stone  and  jade,  20. 

Misunderstandings,  Chinese,  of  passages 
in  ancient  texts,  17,  18,  82,  84,  87,  129, 
130.  131.  134- 

Mo  chuang  man  lu,  99. 

Mon,  78. 

Monkey,  jade  carving  of,  in  connection 
with  horse,  241:  in  connection  with 
bee  and  horse,  262. 

Montelius,  O.,  2,  5. 

Moon,  jade  symbols  in  sacrificing  to, 
142,  167:  disk  of  white  jade  used  in  the 
imperial  temple  of  the,  182:  design  of, 
on  jade  coin,  190:  design  of,  on  Persian 
girdle,  292:  altar  of  the,  293. 

Moorehead,  W.  K.,  52,  73. 

Morgan,  J.  de,  292. 

Morse,  E.  S.,  51:  study  of  arrow-release 
of,  284. 

Moule,  A.  C.,  327. 

Mountain  scenery,  of  the  T'ang  period, 
293:  carved  out  of  jade,  331. 

Mountains  and  Rivers,  jade  symbols  in 
sacrifices  to,  142. 

Muller,  F.  W.  K.,  on  jade  book,  ii8- 

Muller,  Max,  2. 

Muller,  Sophus,  on  trade  in  jade  imple- 
ments, 3,  5,  50:  on  solar  worship,  103. 

Munro,  N.  G.,  51,  351. 

Musical  qualities  of  jade,  7,  194,  195, 
327- 

Mustache,  - preserved  by  jade  amulet, 

303- 

Mutton-fat,  Chinese  designation  of  a 
certain  color  of  jade,  286,  328. 


Index. 


367 


Xan  Ts'i  shii,  21. 

Nan-yang,  jade  of,  24,  25. 

Nephrite  question,  1-5,  24;  of  Japan, 
351-354- 

Net-pattern,  1 1 1 . 

Netsuke,  Japanese,  idea  of,  traceable  to 
Chinese  sources,  243. 

Ncuhoff,  J.,  60,  66,  68. 

Newton,  identification  oifeng  and  huang 
by,  221. 

Ngan  Yi,  name  on  a private  seal  of  the 
Han  period,  192. 

.Ngo-mei  shan,  343,  344. 

Ni-ch6n-ju,  Buddhist  priest,  63. 

Nieh  Tsung-i,  16,  81,  102. 

Nihongi,  on  Su-sh6n,  59. 

North,  deity,  jade  image  of,  120,  169- 
172. 

nu,  56. 

Obsidian,  trade  in,  5. 

Offerings,  of  jade  to  the  gods,  155. 

Onion,  color  designation  in  jade,  201, 
202. 

Open-work  technique,  in  jade  and 
bronze,  321,  323. 

Palladius,  on  stone  hatchet  of  Siberia, 
58;  on  jade  axes  of  the  Yuan  dynasty, 
63- 

Pan  Ku,  99,  132,  154,  155,  197,  21 1,  334. 

P'an  Fu-jen,  335. 

p'att  k'iu,  form  of  dragon,  228. 

Paper-weights,  of  jade,  243. 

Peacock,  221,  222. 

Peal,  S.  E.,  77. 

Pearls,  objects  of  barter,  190;  sword 
decorated  with,  274. 

P'ei  win  yiin  fu,  15,  59,  60,  63. 

Pelliot,  P.,  12,  189. 

Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  15,  63,  6S,  154. 

P'fing  Tsu-shou,  name  of  jade-carver, 

341- 

Persia,  floral  design  of,  290,  292;  girdle 
of,  292. 

Peru,  stone  and  copper  mirrors  of,  20- 
21 : resonant  stones  of,  327. 

Phallicism,  traces  of,  44,  99,  172,  234, 

330- 

Phenix,  on  jade  ring,  211,  213:  on  jade 
girdle-pendant,  221,  234;  forming 

head  of  jade  hat-pin,  251;  forming 
head  of  jade  buckle,  270-272. 

Pi  Kan,  grave  of,  99. 

pi-liu-li,  109,  no. 

pi-ya-se,  the  balas  ruby  of  Badakshan, 
109.  The  Chinese  word  is  derived 
from  pijdzaki,  the  stone  from  the  dis- 
trict of  Pijazak  (see  Wiedemann,  Der 
Islam,  Voi.  II,  1911,  p.  349).  The 
whole  question  is  discussed  at  length 
in  my  forthcoming  paper  “Notes  on 
Turquois  in  the  East.” 


P'i-li  chin,  thunder  stones,  63. 

P'i-sieh,  forming  head  of  jade  buckles, 
268,  269;  jade  carvings  of,  311-313. 

Pictorial  influence,  in  jades  of  Ku  yii  t'u 
p'n,  202,  229,  240,  251,  252,  270,  271, 

.293.  341- 

pien,  leather  cap,  249,  251. 

pien  chang,  loi. 

Pig’s  head,  on  implement  to  loosen  knots, 
240,  242. 

Pischel,  R.,  303. 

Plath,  J.  H.,  59,  147. 

Plum-blossom  pattern,  310. 

Po  hu  t'ung,  99,  132,  154,  197,  21 1. 

Po  ku  t'u,  representing  the  traditions  of 
the  Sung  period,  14:  179,  180. 

po-li,  H2. 

Po  wu  chi,  64. 

Po  wu  yao  Ian,  15. 

Po  ya,  115. 

Pomegranate,  335. 

Porcelain,  acupuncture  needles  of,  67. 

Presents,  sent  with  jade  tablets,  88. 

Prophecy,  jade  used  in,  171. 

P'u-t'o  shan,  348,  350. 

P'u-t'o  shan  chi,  348. 

Puini,  C.,  70. 

Rain,  offerings  for,  186-189. 

Rebus,  in  ancient  girdle-ornaments,  199, 
209,  210,  243,  262,  268,  287,  288,  289: 
in  modern  jade  objects,  322,  329,  331, 
332,  335.  336. 

Red  color,  utilized  as  rebus,  288. 

Red  jade,  91,  94,  178,  246,  275,  283,  287, 
318- 

Resonant  stones,  327-330;  imitated  in 
bronze,  179-181. 

Resurrection,  ideas  regarding,  during 
Han  period,  235. 

Rhinoceros  horn,  335. 

Rings,  of  jade,  154,  166,  297,  298;  sym- 
bolism of,  210. 

River  gods,  jade  offerings  to,  155,  156. 

Rivett-Camac,  J.  H.,  51. 

Rock-crystal,  tiger  carved  from,  247: 
resonant  stone  of,  330;  Ju-i  of,  335; 
magatama  of,  351. 

Rockhill,  W.  W.,  47. 

Rodent,  on  girdle-pendant,  224,  225. 

Rosette,  four-leaved,  306. 

Ross,  J.,  148. 

“Rush”  pattern,  17;  according  to  notion 
of  Sung  period,  86,  87:  in  reality  a 
basketry  design,  158-160. 

Saghalin,  grooved  stone  hammer  of,  51. 

Samantabhadra,  iconography  of,  341- 
350. 

San  kuo  chi,  58. 

San  It  t'u,  16,  81,  84,  86,  102,  241. 

San  ts'ai  t'u  hut,  12,  266,  303. 


Index. 


368 

sao-lao,  back-scratcher,  255. 

Sas.sanidian  designs,  292. 

Saussure,  L.  de,  12 1,  199,  215. 

Saville,  H.,  327. 

Scabbard,  jade  ornaments  for,  276-285. 

Screen,  of  jade,  21. 

Seals,  of  jade,  192-193,  247. 

Serpentine,  22,  322. 

Sessha,  ManjugrI  of,  338;  Samanta- 
bhadra  of,  348-350. 

Shang-chou,  in  Shensi,  antelope  of,  268. 

Shang-ti,  jade  symbol  in  sacrifices  to, 
142:  148. 

Shang  yang,  antelope  of  Shang-chou,  268. 

Shantung,  stone  implements  of,  46-53; 
ancient  history  of,  53-54. 

she,  131. 

Shen  Kua,  65. 

.Shensi,  localities  of  jade  in  ancient  times, 
23-24:  jade  bowlder  from,  26;  stone 
mattock  of,  34:  jade  implements  of, 
35-40. 

Shi  king,  15,  45,  100,  186,  195-199.  201, 
228,  235,  240,  253,  254,  256,  263,  276, 
284. 

Shih  i ki,  60. 

Shih  Ts'ung,  221. 

Shoes,  of  jade,  21. 

Shoulder-headed  celt,  73-79. 

Shu  king,  15,  23,  84,  99,  104,  108,  120, 
126,  146,  156,  327. 

Shu  lien,  25. 

Shun-chih,  the  Emperor,  Manchu-Chi- 
nese  document  of,  118-119. 

Shuo  ling,  99. 

Shuowen,8g,gg,  108,  109,  154,  174,  186, 
253,  256,  278. 

Si  king  tsa  ki,  307,  333. 

Si-ngan  fu,  importance  of,  for  archeo- 
logical research,  6;  distributing  centre 
for  trade  in  Turkistan  jade,  26. 

Siao  Tse-hien,  21. 

Silk,  with  reference  to  Earth  and  em- 
press, 135. 

Silkworm-cocoon  pattern,  126,  128,  165, 
186,  206. 

Silver,  tablet  of,  offered  to  dragon,  i89» 
chatelaines  of,  203-206;  girdles  of, 
286;  Ju-i  of,  335. 

Simplicity,  a principle  of  the  Chou  period 
in  religious  objects  of  greatest  rever- 
ence, 82. 

sin  kuei,  84,  85. 

Smith,  H.  I.,  53. 

Solar  worship,  symbolized  by  jade  im- 
plements, 46,  89,  102,  103. 

Sonorous  stones,  327-330;  imitated  in 
bronze,  179-181. 

South,  deity,  jade  image  of,  120,  172- 
173- 

Spade-money,  73,  74. 

Spade-shaped  celt,  73-79. 


Star  ornament,  306. 

Stars,  jade  symbols  in  sacrificing  to,  142, 
167:  symbolized  by  jade  buttons,  250. 

Stevens,  E.  T.,  69. 

Stylus,  wooden  or  bamboo,  for  writing, 
1 16. 

Su  Shao,  65. 

Su-shen,  Tungusian  tribe,  makers  of 
arrow-heads,  57-59. 

Su  Sung,  24,  268. 

Su  wen  i fa  fang  i lun,  medical  work,  67. 

Siian  ho  hua  p'u,  252,  341,  343. 

siian  ki  yii  heng,  astronomical  instru- 
ment, 104. 

siin,  term  relating  to  sword,  274. 

siin-yii-k'i,  kind  of  jade  found  in  the 
I-wu-lii  mountains  of  Manchuria,  108, 
109. 

Sumitomo,  bronze  with  tigress  in  col- 
lection of,  182. 

Sun,  worshipped  by  the  sovereign  dur- 
ing the  spring  in  the  morning,  82,  103: 
jade  symbols  in  sacrifices  to,  142,  167; 
design  of,  engraved  on  jade  coin,  190; 
symbolized  by  jade  buttons,  250;  altar 
of  the,  293. 

Sun  K'iian,  335. 

Svastika,  287,  329. 

Swallow,  forming  head  of  jade  hat-pin, 

251. 

Sword,  presented  to  Khan  of  Hiung-nu, 
274;  of  bronze,  with  engraving  of 
tiger,  184. 

Sword-guards,  274-277. 

Sze-ch'uan,  jade  of,  25,  26. 

Sze  ch'uan  I'ung  chi,  24. 

la  kuei,  jade  symbol  of  imperial  power, 
81,  89,  91. 

Ta  Tai  li,  94. 

Ta  Ts'ing  hui  lien  t'u,  109. 

Ta  Ts'ing  i I'ung  chi,  24,  68. 

ta  ts'ung,  13 1. 

Tai  T6h,  94. 

T'ai  p'ing  yii  Ian,  25. 

Tallies,  of  bronze,  102.  174,  184. 

T'ang  dynasty,  jade  court-girdles  of, 
286-293. 

T'ang  Jung-tso,  essay  of,  on  jade,  7. 

T'ang  shih  lu,  286. 

T'ao  Hung-king,  24,  299. 

t'ao-t'ieh,  figure  of  monster  on  ancient 
bronzes,  14;  on  jade  axe,  43;  zoo- 
morphic  conception  of,  184-185;  on 
jade  clasp,  260;  on  scabbard  ornament, 
280  283;  on  jade  and  bronze  vases. 
315,  317:  on  jade  bell,  328. 

T'ao  Yuan-ming,  222. 

Tapir,  222,  234,  304. 

Textile  patterns,  on  jade  works,  321. 

Thumb-ring,  used  in  archery,  283-284. 

Thunder,  god  of,  64. 


Index.  369 


Thunderbolts,  65,  68. 

Tibetans,  silver  chatelaines  of,  203,  206. 
Tiger,  zoomorphic  deity,  174-185;  gird- 
le-pendant in  shape  of,  228,  229:  rock- 
crystal  carving  of,  247. 

Tiger  head,  on  bronze  wheel-nave,  128, 
129;  on  jade  disk,  160-162. 

Tigress  suckling  child,  tradition  of,  182. 
t'ien-lu,  imaginary  animal,  268,  269. 
ring,  89,  114. 

Toad,  on  bronze  wheel-nave,  128. 
Tokharestan,  lamp-tree  of  agate  from, 
334. 

Tomb-jade,  erroneous  term  of  Bushell, 
294.  295- 

Tonking,  jade  of,  24. 

Torii,  R.,  35,  57. 

Tortoise-shell,  girdles  of,  286. 

Trade  in  jade,  from  Turkistan  to  China, 
5,  23,  26,  292,  324,  328. 

Trees,  carved  from  jade,  334-335- 
Triskeles,  306. 

Truffle,  produced  by  thunder  (lei  huan), 
66  (see  Bretschneider,  Bot.  Sin.,  Part 

111,  No.  353). 

Ts'ai  Yung,  story  of,  265. 
tsao  wen,  design  of  aquatic  plants,  238, 
249. 

Ts'ao  Chao,  15. 

Tsi  ku  yu  t'u,  12. 

tsie-mu-lu,  emerald,  from  Persian  zumur- 
rud,  155. 

Ts'i  ch'un  ts'iu,  21. 

Ts'i  kuo  k'ao,  21. 
ts'ien,  money,  hoe,  73. 

Ts'ien  Han  shu,  24,  109,  155,  169,  274. 
ts'ing  kuei,  jade  emblem  of  the  East,  95, 
96,  120,  172. 

Tso  chuan,  1 15,  174. 
tsu,  131,  133. 
tsti  ts’ung,  137-143- 

tu  kuei,  astronomical  instrument  of  jade, 

112. 

Tu  Wan,  59. 

Tu  yang  tsa  pien,  353. 

T'u  king  pin  ts'ao,  268. 
t'u  pan,  “earth  spots,"  27. 

T'u  shu  tsi  ch'ing,  15,  303,  337. 

Tuan  Fang,  jade  dagger  of,  40;  Wang 
Mang  coin  of,  191. 
tuan  ts'ung,  136. 

Tubular  drill,  36,  328. 

Tung  Shuo,  21. 

T'ung  kien  kang  mu,  113. 

Turkistan,  jade  of,  traded  to  China,  5,  8, 
23,  24,  324:  jade  coins  from,  192;  jade 
chatelaine  from,  203,  204;  jade  pieces 
from,  as  tribute,  292,  324;  jade  bird- 
cage from,  292. 

Turquoise,  leaves  carved  from,  335. 

De  Ujfalvy,  206. 

Umbilic  amulets,  304. 


vaidiirya,  109;  not  the  cat’s  eye,  but 
beryl,  1 1 1. 

V^aricolored  jade,  117. 

Vases,  of  jade,  297,  3f5-323. 

Waddell,  L.  A.,  77. 

Walshe,  G.,  65. 

wan  shgu,  name  of  a design,  286,  287. 

Wang  Hien-chih,  119. 

Wang  Mao-chung,  245. 

Wang  Ping,  physician,  67. 

Wang  Ta-ling,  119. 

Wang  Yu,  jade  sculptor  of  Sung  period, 
247. 

Wave  ornaments,  206. 

Wei  shu,  58,  274. 

Weight-stone,  ceremonial,  of  jade,  135. 

Well,  represented  on  inkslab,  333. 

W6n-shan,  jade-stone  of,  25. 

West,  deity,  jade  images  of,  174-185. 

Whale  pattern,  177. 

Wheel-naves,  of  bronze,  127:  alleged,  of 
jade,  did  not  exist,  1 23-1 29. 

White  jade,  privilege  of  the  Emperor, 
88,  196,  284. 

Wigs,  worn  by  empress,  253. 

Williams,  M.',  on  stone  axe  found  in 
mound  of  Kalgan,  33. 

M'illiams,  S.  W.,  22. 

Wine-vessel,  of  jade,  from  Khotan,  292. 

wo  tsan,  206. 

Writing-material,  jade  as,  114-119. 

Wu,  king  of  Ch'u,  portrait  of,  by  Ku 
K'ai-chih,  285. 

Wu  li  siao  shih,  39,  66. 

Wu  Ta-ch'6ng,  archaeolpgist,  12-13,  17; 
jade  axe  of,  43 ; jade  symbols  of  power 
of,  88-102;  jade  images  of  Earth  of, 
130-138:  on  jade  disks,  156;  jade  disks 
of,  158-164,  166;  huang  of,  169-172; 
tiger-jades  of,  175-179:  dragon-jades 
of,  188;  girdle-ornaments  of,  100,  loi, 
235-241;  sword-guards  of,  276;  scab- 
bard ornaments  of,  278-284:  head- 
gear  ornaments  of,  249-254:  clasps  of, 
258-260:  buckles  of,  263;  jade  vases 
of,  316-318. 

Wu  Tao-tse,  338,  343. 

ya  chang,  101,  102. 

ya-siu,  306. 

Yang,  the  Emperor,  owner  of  jade  back- 
scratcher, 255. 

Yao  Mu-ngan,  jade  sculptor  of  the 
Yuan  period,  246. 

Yarkand,  shipment  of  jade  from,  328. 

Yellow,  color  of  Earth  and  of  the  jade 
image  of  this  deity,  120,  122,  132-135. 
137.  291- 

Yellow  jade,  43,  107,  122,  139,  142,  143. 
246,  283,  291,  293. 


370 


Index. 


Yen  kirn  lei  han,  15. 

yen  kuei,  pointed  jade  tablet,  83,  95,  96. 
Yen  Li-p6n,  painter,  picture  of  Samanta- 
bhadra  by,  341-346. 

Yen  Shih-ku,  114,  274. 

Yi  king,  144,  146,  147. 

Yu  yang  tsa  Isu,  63. 

Yu,  alleged  jade  tablets  of,  lo-ii. 
yti  kti  kuan,  115.  • _ 

yii  Ian  wen,  126. 


Yu  pien,  154. 
yii  shih,  25. 

yii  tsao,  jade  pendants,  249. 
yiian  kuei,  round  jade  tablet,  83,  93,  94. 
Yiin  tin  shih  p'u,  treatise  on  mineralogy, 
59- 

Yun-nan,  jade  of,  26;  stone  implements 
of,  30-32:  marble  of,  157,  321. 


Zi,  P.  E.,  284. 


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